“The history of India“

THE HISTORY OF INDIA 

SIR ROPER LETHBRIDGE'S 

HISTORY OF INDIA. 



MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED, 

LONDON, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA. 



Adapted to the requirements of the Entrance or Matriculation 
Examinations of the Universities. 



THE 

HISTOEY OF INDIA 



WITH CHAPTEBS ON 

THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY ; THE ANCIENT AND MODERN POLITICAL 

DIVISIONS AND PLACES OP INTEREST; AND 'INDIA IN 1900,' ITS 

PEOPLES, THEIR CONDITION, RESOURCES, INSTITUTIONS 

AND FORMS OP IMPERIAL, PROVINCIAL, AND 

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 



BY 

SIR ROPER LETHBRIDGE, K.C.I.E., M.A. 

Formerly Scholar of Exeter College, Oxford ; sometime Principal of Kishttaghw 
College, Bengal, and Fellow and Examiner of the Calcutta University

CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. THE PHYSICAL GEOGBAPHY OF INDIA ... 1 

II. THE CONQUEST OF INDIA BY THE ARYAN-HINDUS 13 

III. MANU, THE GREAT LAWGIVER OF THE HINDUS 18 

IV. BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM 22 

V. THE GREEKS IN INDIA 23 

VI. THE TRIUMPH AND DECLINE OF BUDDHISM . 25 
VII. THE REVIVAL OF BRAHMANISM ... 27 
VIII. SULTAN MAHMUD OF GHAZNI . . . .32 
IX. MUHAMMAD GHORI AND IHE CONQUEST OF HIN- 
DUSTAN BY THE MUHAMMADANS . . 37 

X. THE PATIIAN OR AFGHAN SULTANS OF DEHLI 41 

XI. THE RIVALS OF THE DEHLI EMPIRE . . 49 
XII. BABAR AND HUMAYUN, THE FlRST MUGHUL 

EMPERORS . . .... 52 

XIII. AK.BAR, THE GREATEST OF THE MUGHUL 

EMPERORS 56 

XIV. JAHANGIR, SHAH JAHAN, AND AURANGZEB . 65 
XV. THE DECLINE OF THE MUGHUL EMPIRE . . 71 

XVI. SlVAJI AND THE RlSE OF THE MAHRATTAS . 77 

XVII. THE PROGRESS AND DECLINE OF THE MAHRATTA 

POWER 82 

XVIII. EARLY EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN INDIA . 93 
XIX. THE WARS OF THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH IN 

THE CARNATIC 97 

XX. CLIVE, AND THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY . . 102 
XXI. CLIVE, AND THE GRANT OF THE DtwANf 01? 

BENGAL ' 108 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PAGE 

XXII. WAKREN HASTINGS, THE FIRST GOVERNOR- 
GENERAL OF INDIA ... .112 

XXIII. LORD CORNWALLIS : THE THIRD MYSORE WAR 

AND THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT OF 
BENGAL 321 

XXIV. THE MARQUIS WELLESLEY : THE CONQUEST OF 

MYSORE AND OF THE MAHRATTAS . . 125 
XXV. LORD CORNWALLIS AGAIN : SIR GEORGE BAR- 
LOW: LORD MINTO 129 

XXVI. THE MARQUIS OF HASTINGS : THE NEPAL AND 

PINDARI WARS . , . . . .132 

XXVII. LORD AMHERST : THE FIRST BURMAH WAR 

AND THE STORMING OF BHARTPUR . . 134 
XXVIII. LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK : PEACE AND 

REFORMS ....... 137 

XXIX. LORD AUCKLAND : THE AFGHAN WAR . . 139 
XXX. LORD ELLENBOROUGH : THE CONQUEST or 

KABUL AND THE ANNEXATION OF SlNDH . 142 

XXXI. LORD HARDINGE : THE FIRST SIKH WAR . 345 

XXXII. LORD DALHOUSIE : THE SECOND SKH WAR . 148 

XXXIII. LORD CANNING : THE SEPOY MUTINY . . 152 
XXXIV. CHE VICEROYS OF INDIA UNDER THE BRITISH 

CROWN . 161 



APPENDIX : 

PART I. ANCIBNT AND MODERN POLITICAL DIVISIONS, 

AND PLACES OF INTEREST . . .170 

PART II. INDIA IN 1900: ITS PEOPLES, THEIR CON- 
DITION, RESOURCES, INSTITUTIONS, AND 
FORMS OF IMPERIAL, PROVINCIAL, AND 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT .... 187 

INDEX 199 




lseiiin-nifif>'< India*  TAN LAK  R Al N AGE  AN EASY INTRODUCTION  TO  THE HISTOEY OF INDIA:  CHAPTER I.  THE LAND AND ITS PHYSICAL FEATURES.  1. Extent and Boundaries. 2. Two Great Divisions, Hin-  dustan and the Deccan. 3. Physical Divisions of Northern India.  4. The Plains of Northern India. 5. The North-Eastern Valleys.  6. The Mabra Plateau. 7. Physical Divisions of Southern India.  8. The Plateau of the Deccan and Mysore. 9. The Western Mari-  time Fringe. 10. The Eastern Maritime Fringe. 11. Ceylon.  12. Burma. 13. British Baluchistan. 14. Coast-line and  Harbours.  1. Extent and Boundaries. India (excluding the pro-  vince of Burma, or Bnrmah) may be described roughly  as the country which lies between the Himalaya mountains  and the sea. From Quetta in British Baluchistan, in the  extreme west, to the eastern borders of Assam is a distance  of about 1,800 miles. About the same distance separates  Peshawar, in the north of the Panjab, from Cape Comorin  at the southern extremity of the Empire. And the area  included within these limits exceeds 1,587,000 square  miles ; and if to this be added the territories of Burma,  the total extent of the Indian Empire is about 1,800,000  square miles, or nearly one-fourth of the whole of the  British Empire.  Its boundary on the north is the mountain-chain of the  Himalayas, the highest mountains in the world. The  2 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO  river Indus bursts through the Himalaya mountains by a  gorge in east longitude 72, in the northern corner of the  Panjab ; the river Dihong, the chief tributary of the  Brahmaputra, finds its way through the same chain in  east longitude 95 30', in the north-east of Assam ; and  between these points the Himalaya is an unbroken water-  shed, of an average height of 19,000 feet, for a distance  of 1,400 miles. The highest peak is Mount Everest,  29,000 feet above the sea-level.  !Near Peshawar, west of the Indns, is the entrance to  the Khaibar Pass, leading to Jalalabad and Kabul through  terrible defiles to the north of the Safed Koh range of  mountains ; and south of that range is the Kuram Pass,  also leading , to Kabul, through a very wild, mountainous  region, by the famous ascents of the Pewar Kohtal and  the Shutargardan Pass.  The Suleman mountains, running nearly north and  Bouth to the west of the Indus, and parallel to that iver,  separate the plains of the Panjab from the Kabul plateau  and Sewistan. Its highest peak, the Takht-i- Suleman, or  " Solomon's Throne," is under 12,000 feet. Southward  the range becomes less elevated, until at length it turns  westward, to bound the plain leading up to the Bolan  Pass the great military and commercial road from India  to Quetta, in British Baluchistan, and also to Kandahar,  Herat, and Western Asia generally. From this pass, the  Hal a range of mountains skirts the valley of the Indus on  the west, almost to the sea.  From Karachi to Cape Comorin, the Indian Ocean is  the boundary on the west and south-west ; while from.  Cape Comorin to the confines of Burma the boundary is  the Bay of Bengal on the east and south-east.  Burma is bounded 011 the south-west by the Bay of  Bengal ; on the north-west and north by wild mountainous,  regions, partly unexplored, that separate it from Assam  and Thibet (or Tibet, or Tibbat) ; and on the north-east and  past by similar regions, separating it from China and Slum.  THE HISTORY OP INDIA. 3  2. Two great Divisions Hindustan and the Deccan (or  Dakhin). India Proper that is, excluding the Burmese  territories is divided into two parts, commonly called  Hindustan and the Deccan (or Dakhin) respectively, by a  chain of highlands that runs across the country, nearly  from sea to sea, iu the northern part of the peninsula, and  just south of the tropic of Cancer. This chain of high-  lands is the most important water-parting in the country ;  the waters to the north draining chiefly into the Narbada  and the Ganges, those to the south into the Tapti, the  Mahanadi, and some smaller streams. Its general direction  is from west by south to east by north. In the west,  between the basins of the Narbada and the Tapti, it is  called the Satpura range ; on the eastern side it becomes  merged in the plateau of Chntia Nagpur and Hazaribagh  in Bengal. It will be seen hereafter that the western  portion of this chain is also the boundary between two  important sections of the Indian people between the  Hindi-speaking and the Marathi-speaking races. For all  these reasons, it is convenient to regard this chain of high-  lands as the division between Northern and Southern  India, which are often called Hindustan and the Deccan  respectively.  It should, however, be remembered that the terms  'Hindustan' and 'the Deccan,' as commonly used, are  ambiguous. Hindustan is sometimes used by European  geographers to indicate the whole of India ; whilst on the  other hand the meaning of the term in India is sometimes  restricted to those regions in the upper Gangetic valley  which are occupied by Hindi-speaking races. When  opposed to ' the Deccan,' it means broadly ' Northern  India,' as opposed to ' Southern India ' ; but the boundary  is sometimes placed at the Narbada river, sometimes as we  have placed it above, and sometimes at the Vindhya  range (which bounds the Narbada valley on the north).  So, too, ' the Deccan ' is sometimes restricted in its mean-  ing to the territory forming the northern portion of the  B 2  4 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO  great plateau of Southern India, and sometimes applied  specially to the Feudatory State ruled by the Nizam of  Haidarabad, nearly coincident with that territory. In  ancient Indian writers, the boundary between Hindustan  and the Deccan is uniformly placed at the Vindhya range.  3. Physical Divisions of Nortliern India. Northern  India consists mainly of a vast plain, which includes (1)  the basin of the Indus, and the Thar or Great Indian  Desert on the west ; (2) the basin of the Ganges and its  tributaries in the centre and east, comprising the modern  divisions of the North- Western Provinces, Oadh, Bihar,  Bengal, and parts of Bajputana and the Central India  Agency (see Appendix A) ; and (3) two valleys in the far  east, which form the basin of the Brahmaputra and its  affluents (now Assam and Eastern Bengal). This plain  is flanked on the north and west by mountain-zones, the  Himalaya and the Suleman ranges. On the south of some  portions of the western and central divisions of this plain  is the great pleateau of Malwa and Baghalkhand, which  is separated from the central mountain-axis (the Satpura  and other ranges) by the valley of the Narbada.  4. The Plains of Northern India. The vast plain of  Northern India consists of the Indus valley, the Thar or  Great Indian Desert, and the Gangetic Valley. These  divisions run into each other without visible interruption ;  for though the water-parting between the two great rivers  is at an elevation of from 800 to 1,000 feet above sea-level  at its highest point somewhere north of Delhi, yet the  slope on each side is so gradual as to be imperceptible.  The western part of this plain consists of the alluvial  valley of the Indus and its tributaries ; the saline swamps  of Cutch (Kadi) ; the rolling sands and rocky plains of  the desert, which covers much of Sind, the south of the  Panjab, and Western Bajputana; and the south-easterly  margin of this desert in Rajputana, which is less sterile, be-  cause it receives more rain and is watered by the Luni. The  whole of this region is dry, and some of it almost rainless.  THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 5  At Mithankot the Indus receives, as a tributary, the  collected waters of the Five Rivers, from which the Panjab  (Panj-db = Five waters) takes its name. These rivers  all rise in the Himalaya, and flow south- west through the  Panjab. These, commencing with the most southerly  (which is also the greatest), are the Satlej, the Bias, the  Ravi (on which is Lahore), the Chenab, and the Jhelam  (which drains Kashmir). The plains of the Panjab slope  insensibly from north-east to south-west, from the Hima-  laya towards the sea. The strips between the rivers are  called Dodbs, and consist of Bdngar land and KJiddar land.  The Khddar is the fertile fringe of the river below flood-  level within which the river often alters its course from  year to year, sometimes deviating many miles from its old  channel. The Bdngar is the higher land between the  rivers, generally arid and sterile, and often bare or covered  only with coarse scrub though in the northern and less dry  portion of the Panjab it bears luxuriant crops of wheat.  The water-system of the Ganges drains an area of  391,000 square miles (the area of the Indus valley being  less by some 20,000 square miles). The Ganges leaves the  Himalaya near Hardwar, and flows to the Bay of Bengal,  in a direction generally south-east, its course being about  1.500 miles. The Jamund, or Jamnah, joins it at Allah-  abad, and above that point has a fair claim to be con-  sidered the main stream. Agra, Muttra (Mathurd), and  Delhi are on its banks ; and the highly fertile tract of land  between it and the Ganges is called ' the Doab,' as being  the most important of all the Doabs of India. The most  important of the other tributaries of the Ganges are on  the south side, the Chambal from Malwa, the Betwa from  Bhopal and Bundelkhand, and the Son from Central  India ; on the north side, the Gumti from Oudh. the  Rapti, Gandak, and Kosi from Nepal, and the Tista  from Sikkim. The great Gangetic Delta commences at a  point near Murshidabad, below which the courses of  the yarious channels have for ages been shifting. Below  6 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO  this point the present main stream is the Padma, still  sometimes called Ganges ; whilst the ancient main stream  is now a much smaller one called the Bhagirathi, which,  joins some others to form the Hooghly, or Hngli, on which  Calcutta is built. ., The Gangetic Delta with the contiguous  delta of the Brahmaputra forms the marvellous network of  rivers for which Eastern Bengal is famous.  5. The North- Eastern Valleys. Eastward from this  network of rivers, two alluvial plains stretch up between  the wild ranges of mountains that connect the Himalayan  system with that of the Burmese peninsula. The more  northerly one is that of the Brahmaputra, called Assam ;  it is long and narrow, and is bordered on the north by the  Himalaya, on the south by the lower plateau of the Garo,  Khasi, and Naga hill*. The other valley is that of the  river Surma, including the districts of Cachar and Silhat  short and broad, and in part occupied by swamps ; it  separates the Garo, Khasi, and Naga hills from those of  Tiparah and the Lushai country. The Assam valley, one  of the homes of the tea-plant, is almost a perfect flat, with  clumps of little conical hills scattered over the plains and  rising abruptly to the height of 200 to 700 feet. A large  number of rivers flow through this plain to join the Brah-  maputra, and the rainfall is very heavy.  6. The Mdlwa Plateau. The great plateau of Malwa  and Baghalkhand occupies the space intervening between  the Gangetic plain on the north, the semi-fertile fringe of  the Great Indian Desert (the part watered by the Lnni)  on the north-west, the valley of the Narbada on the  south, and the valley of the Son (a tributary of the Ganges)  on the south-east. Its slope is almost entirely northward,  from the Vindhya mountains, its southern wall, to the  Gangetic plain. With the exception of a small area in the  south-west, which drains into the Mahi (an insignificant  river falling into the Gulf of Kambay), the whole drainage  of the plateau is into the Ganges. Its north-west and west  wall is formed by the Aravali mountains, which cross  THE HIPTOKY OF INDIA. 7  Bajputana from its south-west corner to the neighbourhood  of Delhi ; the highest peak, Mount Abu, is over 5,000 feet.  The surface of the plateau is an undulating plain with oc-  casional hills, the highest of which does not exceed 2,500 feet.  Intervening between this plateau and the central moun-  tain-axis of the Satpuras, is the long narrow valley of the  Narbada, which flows from east to west into the Arabian  Sea, or Indian Ocean, at Baroch.  7. Physical Divisions of Southern India. India  south of the Satpuras is a triangular peninsula, its base  being the Satpuras mountains and their continuations, its  apex at Cape Comorin, its eastern side resting on the Bay  of Bengal, called the ' Coromandel Coast,' and its western  side resting on the Indian Ocean, called the ' Malabar  Coast.' The whole of the interior of this country is a vast  plateau, the plateau of the Deccan and Mysore, somewhat  in the shape of a triangle, whose base and sides are parallel  to those of the triangle of Southern India. Fringing this  plateau are, on the north-west, the valley of the Tapti j  on the west, the narrow belt of hot, moist, and somewhat  rugged country between the Western Ghats and the Indian  Ocean ; on the east, a belt (generally much broader, but  varying greatly in breadth) of hot, low country between  the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal ; whilst on the  south, beyond the apex of the triangle, is a hilly region  extending to Cape Comorin.  8. The Plateau of the Daccan and Mysore. The com-  bined valleys of the Tapti and its affluent, the Purna,  intervene, in the western and central part of the peninsula,  between the Satpura mountain-axis and the Deccan pla-  teau. They are occupied by the fine plains of Khandesh  and Barar, having a soil famous as the black ' cotton soil.'  At the head of the Purna valley, the plains of Barar pass  .without perceptible interruption into those of the tributaries  of the Godavari, which extend far down that i-iver, and  form one slope (the lowest portion) of the Deccan plateau.  Eastward, nearly as far as the Orissa coast of the Bay of  8 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO  Bengal, is an immense extent of mountainous country,  drained by the Mahanadi and its affluents, and comprising  a large portion of the Central Provinces, the southern  portion of Chutia Nagpur, and Orissa. The main stream.  of the Mahanadi only emerges from these hills through a  narrow gorge near Cuttack (KaiaTt), just above the head  of its delta, which forms part of an alluvial plain extending  to the delta of the Ganges.  The Western Ghats are the western barrier of this  plateau ; and the Eastern Ghats, a lower and less continu-  ous chain, are the eastern barrier. As may be inferred  from the fact that the great rivers of the peninsula rise  near the Yfestern Ghats, and flow eastward through the  line of the Eastern Ghats, the general slope of the country  is from the Western Ghats eastward to the bay of Bengal,  with a more or less sudden drop at the line called the  Eastern Gbats. Hence a vertical section of the peninsula  from west to east, from the Indian Ocean to the bay of  Bengal, would be somewhat as under :  ^Veslern Ghats  Indian  Ocean  The basin of the Godavari and its tributaries (of which  the chief are the Wardha and the Wainganga) coincides  with a broad depression in the Deccan plateau, which  slopes gently from Nagpur (1,000 feet high) to the sea.  Another broad depression is caused by the basin of the  Kistna (or Krishna) and its great affluents, the Bhima and  the Tungabhadra, and this depression separates the  southern plateaa of Mysore (with Bangalore at a height of  3,000 feet) from the northern plateau of the Deccan proper.  The central part of the plateau, except where under field  cultivation, is a bare grassy country, with a gently undu-  lating surface, and occasional ridges of rocky hills OP  clusters of bold isolated peaks ; and the general appearance  of the rugged Krishna valley is of very similar character.  THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 9  A little to the south of Madras the Eastern Ghats trend  off to the westward, bounding the plateau of Mysore ; and  at their junction with the Western Ghats rises the bold  triangular plateau of the Nilgiri Hills, the highest point  of which, Dodabetta, is not less than 8,640 feet above the  sea.  South of the Nilgiris is a broad depression called the  Palghat Pass, or Gap of Coimbatore. This depression,  which is only 1,500 feet high at its highest point, connects  the low country forming the eastern fringe of the penin-  sula with that forming the western fringe, and separates  the highlands of the Nilgiris from those of Travancore  and the southern corner of India.  The plateau of Mysore is drained by three small rivers  (called the Ponnar, the Palar, and the Southern Ponnar)  on the east, and on the south by the Kaveri (or Cauvery),  which also drains the Nilgiris. The Kaveri flows into the  Bay of Bengal by two arms, of which the northern one is  called the Kalarun (or Coleroon).  9. The Western Maritime Fringe. The narrow strip  of low country that fringes the peninsula below the  Western Ghats is called Malabar in the south and tho  Konkan in the north. It varies in width from twenty  miles to fifty miles. It is well watered by short streams  from the Ghats, and is somewat rugged, being much  intersected by short spurs of that range. The rainfall  being heavy and the climate hot, the forests are dense and  the vegetation tropical.  10. The Eastern Maritime Fringe. On the east side  of the peninsula the fringing plain is generally very much  broader, though for a short distance near Madras it is  only thirty miles across, and is still narrower near Viza-  gapatam. In its southern part it is called the Carnatic.  South of Madras it occupies from one-third to one-half  the width of the peninsula, and runs up the valley of the  Kaveri to the foot of the Nilgiri hills, where it is 2,000  feet above the level of the sea. It includes the alluvial  10 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO  deltas of the Kaveri, the Krishna, the Godavari, and the  Mahanacli, as well as nearly the entire basins of some  smaller rivers, such as the Ponnar and Palar. Whilst it  contains some of the hottest districts in India, it is gene-  rally highly productive. The rich district of Tamore on  the Kaveri delta owes its remarkable fertility to an elabo-  rate system of irrigation.  11. Ceylon. The island of Ceylon lies south-east of  Cape Comoriu, its west coast being in the same longitude  as the east coast of the Indian peninsula between Negapa-  tam and Pondicherry. The sea that separates Ceylon from  India is called the Gulf of Manar on the south and Pa,lk's  Straits on the north ; it is almost bridged by a chain of  coral reefs and islands (called Rama's or Adam's bridge),  which practically closes all the channels against navigation.  Ceylon, though geographically an Indian island, is not  connected politically with the Indian Empire being an  English. Crown colony, under a Governor appointed* by  the Colonial Office in London. The Indian name of  Ceylon is Singhala or Lanka ; the Muhammadan writers  used to call it Silau, and the name Ceylon is another  spelling of Silan.  12. Burma. The great Province of Burma, forming  an important part of the peninsula of 'Further India,' is  geogaphically separate from India Proper ; but it is poli-  tically a part of the Indian Empire, under a Chief Com-  missioner appointed by the Viceroy of India.  For political purposes, the province is divided into  Lower Burma, acquired by the wars of 1824 and 1852, and  Upper Burma, annexed in 1886. But geographically,  Upper Burma consists of the upper valleys of the same  rivers the Irawadi and the Salwen whose lower valleys  form the most important part of Lower Burma.  The area of the whole of the province but not in-  cluding some of the Shan States and much of the wild  and mountainous country on the frontiers, as yet hardly  explored is about 171,000 square miles. Of this, about  THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 11  88,000 square miles are included in Lower Burma, and  about 83,000 square miles in Upper Burma. The un-  settled and partly unexplored regions on the frontiers of  Thibet (orTibbat), China, and Siam have been estimated  to contain a further area of 100,000 square miles.  The leading physical features of the province are com-  paratively simple. From the upper end of the Assam  valley, a series of wild mountain-ranges diverge to the  southward. Of these, the westernmost is called the Patkoi  Hills, and separates Assam from Upper Bi>rma. Spurs of 
the Patkoi Hills connect that range with the Lushai Hills ; 
and the Feudatory State of Manipur (politically connected 
with Assam) occupies a valley in this region, the drainage 
of which flows down into an affluent of the Irawadi. 
Further south, one of the continuations of the Patkoi 
range is called the Arakan Toma. This range separates 
the valley of the Irawadi from the maritime district of 
Arakan, which is the part of Burma adjacent to the Chitta- 
gong division of Bengal. The Arakan Yoma, called also 
the ' Coast Range,' dips into the sea at Cape Negrais ; far 
southward at sea it is continued in the Great and Little 
Coco Islands, the Andaman Islands, and the Nikobars. 

The delta of the Irawadi fbrms, with its fertile lower 
basin, the rich province of Pegu, the central district of 
Lower Burma, famous for rice and teak- wood. The valley 
of the Irawadi consists of plains intersected by low hill- 
ranges, which generally run north and south. It is 
bounded on the east by the Pegu Yoma, a range of hills 
separating it from the valley of the river Salwen. The 
Tenasserim division, the third and most southerly part of 
Lower Burma, consists of the delta of the Salwen, with a 
long narrow strip of maritime territory running out south- 
ward, bounded by the mountains of Siam on the east. 

13. British Baluchistan. Like Burma in the extreme 
east, so British Baluchistan in the extreme west of the 
Indian Empire must be regarded as geographically outside 
India Proper. It consists partly of Pishin and other 



12 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

Afghan mountain- valleys, ceded by the Amir of Afghanis, 
tan in 1879 ; and partly of Quetta and other Baluch 
districts within the Feudatory territories of the Khan of 
Kalat, which are administered by British officials on behalf 
of the Khan. All these districts are situated on the lofty 
highlands west of the Suleman mountains ; and the Bolan 
and Sind-Pishin Railways, which connect them with India 
by the difficult route of the Bolan Pass, are admired as 
triumphs of railway engineering. 

14. Coast-line and Harbours. The coast-line of India 
is on the whole unbroken, affording few good harbours. 
Calcutta is one of the most dangerous ports in the world, 
being 80 miles up a winding river, with, barely 20 feet 
of water at low tide at many points, and the channel 
narrow and intricate. Madras is an open roadstead, 
with an artificial harbour constructed at great cost. It 
has a beach famous for its lines of surf ; and all the ports 
on the Coromandel Coast, from the Hooghly (or Hngli) 
to Cape Comorin, are of a similar character. In Ceylon 
there is the first-class harbour of Trincomalee, which is the 
dockyard of the Royal Navy in the East, but it is situated 
in an inaccessible and unhealthy part of the island. Galle, 
at the southern extremity of Ceylon, has a good though 
somewhat dangerous harbour. Colombo, on the western 
coast of Ceylon, is healthily situated and is the natural 
outlet of the important export trade of Ceylon ; it is the 
coaling station and port of call for all the great ocean 
steamers on the ' overland ' lines to Madras and Calcutta, 
as well as to Singapore and the Indian Archipelago, 
China, Japan, and Australasia. Colombo, like Madras, is 
an open roadstead, with a breakwater which largely 
increases its value as a harbour. On the Malabar coast 
are several valuable harbours Cochin, Calicut, Man- 
galore. Bombay is a very fine harbour ; the Portugese 
are said on this account to have altered its native name 
(Mombai or Mambe) into Buon-bahia, ' good harbour ' ; 
and being connected by rail with all parts of India, its 



THE HtSTOfcY OF iNfilA. 13 

commercial importance is very great indeed. Surat, the 
natural port of the Tapti, and Baroch, that of the Narbada, 
cannot shelter large vessels during the summer monsoon. 
Next to Calcutta and Bombay, the chief commercial port 
of India is now Karachi. It is situated at the north-west 
corner of the delta of the Indus, and being the nearest 
port to Europe, and connected by rail with the Panjab 
and Upper India, it is fast rising in importance. 

Eastward of Calcutta is the port of Chittagong in 
East Bengal ; it is only available for small vessels, and 
only valuable as an outlet for the rice of that region. The 
ports of Burma are Akyab, Rangoon at the mouth of an 
arm of the Irawadi, and Moulmein at the mouth of the 
Sal wen. 

The coast of Malabar and Travancore is fringed with 
sand-spits, inclosing ' backwaters,' which are so connected 
as to afford a very complete system of inland navigation. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CONQUEST OF INDIA BY THE ARYAN-HINDIS. 

1. Sources from which we obtain our knowledge of the early 
ftistory. 2. The Vedas. 3. The ancient Hindus of the Patri- 
archal Age. 4. The ancient Hindus of the Heroic Age. 5. Le- 
gends of the Heroic Age. 

1. Sources from which we obtain our Tcnoidedge of the 
early history. In very ancient times in India no one ever 
thought of sitting down and writing an account of the 
events which he saw or heard of as occurring in the 
country ; and in consequence of this negligence no trust- 
worthy history was written in India until after the Muham- 
madan conquest, i.e. until some period not nine hundred 
years ago. All we know, therefore, about the earlier his- 
tory of this country must be derived, not from regular his- 
tories or annals, but from other sources, such as legends or 



14 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

ancient popular tales, hints collected from ancient religious 
or poetical writings, references to Indian affairs by the 
historians of other countries, hints derived from the writings 
on coins, or ancient inscriptions on stone or metal ; and 
other sources of which we need not speak here. 

2. The Vedas. The writings that are considered most 
sacred by the Hindus are called the Vedas. These sacred 
writings are in Sanskrit a language which was spoken in 
ancient times throughout the north of India ; and it is be- 
lieved that some of these writings were composed more 
than 3,200 years ago. The oldest parts of the Vedas are 
Jlynins or invocations to God ; and from these (combined 
with other sources) we learn something about the circum- 
stances of the Hindus of that period. 

3. The Ancient Hindus of the Patriarchal Age. It 
appears, then, that the ancestors of the people whom we 
now call Hindus did not live in India in very ancient times, 
but in the highlands of Central Asia. They were tohen 
called Aryans ; and were the ancestors, not only of the 
Hindus, who afterwards came to India, but also of the 
Europeans, who went to live in Europe, and of the Persians, 
who went to live in Persia. 

At last the Hindu tribe of the Aryan race migrated 
southward from Central Asia over the high mountains 
which you will see marked in the Atlas as the Hindu 
Kush ; and so they came first into the Panjab [see Chap. 
I.] Besides the five rivers which now, with the Indus, 
water the Panjab, there was then another tributary of the 
Indus, called the Saraswati, which in modern times never 
reaches the Indus at all, but loses itself in the sands of the 
desert. On the banks of the river Saraswati and of the 
other Panjab rivers the Hindu- Aryans remained for many 
centuries ; and were probably living here under a sort 
of patriarchal government at the time to which the hymns 
of the Vedas refer, the district being called by them 
Brahmaoartta. 

' 



THE HISTORY OP INDIA. 15 

[NOTE.' A government is called Patriarchal (from the Greek words 
pater, a father, and archos, chief) when the head of the family rules 
that family as its chief.] 

The head or patriarch of the tribe was not only its chief, 
but also its priest. When it was necessary these Aryan 
invaders fonght against the original inhabitants of the 
country (called aborigines or aboriginal tribes), who were 
people of a darker colour than themselves ; and as the 
Aryans were braver than the aborigines, and possessed 
better weapons and wore strong armour of mail (that is, 
armour made of small iron or bronze rings closely inter- 
laced), they were usually victorious, and drove the abori- 
gines away into the hills and forests where their descendants 
still live. But generally during this patriarchal period 
the Aryans contented themselves with living quietly in the 
fertile plains of the Panjab ; and the people, led a very 
simple life, being all of them engaged in feeding cattle and 
occasionally in a little rude agriculture. 

4. The Ancient Hindus of the Heroic Age. This state 
of affairs probably continued, as we have said, for many 
centuries, during which the Aryan-Hindus gradually be- 
came richer and more numerous ; and at last they began to 
think themselves strong enough to conquer the rich plains 
watered by the Ganges and its tributaries, which were 
even more fertile than those of the Panjab. 

[NOTE. We have seen in Chapter I. that these plains are now called 
the North- West Provinces, Oudh, Bihar, Bengal, and parts of Bajputana, 
and the Central India, Agency. But by the Aryan-Hindus the land 
between the Saraswati and the Ganges was called Brahmdrshi-desa, the 
sacred country of Brahman Eishis; eastward was Madhya-desa, as 
far as Allahabad ; and finally the whole of Northern India was 
Aryavartta.] 

Eor many years, and perhaps for many centuries, the 
Aryan-Hindus were engaged in conquering these fine pro- 
vinces ; and this period is called the Heroic Age of Indian 
history , because the Hindus underfamous and heroic leaders 



16 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

were continually engaged iu war against the aborigines, 
whom they gradually reduced to slavery or drove away 
into the hills and forests, like the Santals, Bhils, and other 
tribes at the present day. 

The heroes who conducted these wars gradually became 
MaMrdjds, or kings, as their power increased by making 
large conquests and by getting many followers. Since 
these chiefs were now busily engaged in war, they could 
no longer attend to their duties as priests, as they had 
been accustomed to do in the patriarchal times ; so in 
course of time there arose a priestly caste, called ~Bra.li- 
mans. Ultimately the Brahmans acquired more influence 
over the people than even the kings themselves ; so at last 
there were two high classes amongst these Aryan-Hindus, 
the Brahmans, who were regarded by the superstitious aa 
almost divine, and who were held in the highest reverence, 
and the Kskatriya, or soldier-caste, to which the kings and 
military leaders belonged. Many legends and popular 
stories about this Heroic Age have been preserved, of 
which the chief are to bo found in the two great Sanskrit 
poems called the Rdmdyana and the MaJidbhdrata. From 
these we learn that the habits of the Aryan-Hindus at 
this early period were at first those of simple and rude 
warriors. Even the Raids and princes tended cattle, and 
cleared land for agriculture by burning down the jungle ; 
they marked the calves of their herds at stated times, and 
regularly performed most of the duties of farmers and 
rustics. All the men of a tribe, rich and poor, were 
brought up together, and trained to defend their crops and 
cattle against enemies and robbers ; and thus they were 
all more or less proficient in pugilism, wrestling, archery, 
throwing stones, casting nooses, and the use of weapons. 
At their banquets they were in the habit of eating flesh- 
meat and drinking wine, just as the other Aryans, who had 
gone westward into Europe, were in the habit of doing ; but 
otherwise their meals were quite simple. They were con- 
tinually engaged in warfare against the black-skinned 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA* 17 

aborigines, who were sometimes called Daityas, sometimes 
Asuras, and often represented as Rakshasas (monsters), 
or Nagas (serpents). 

Gradually, however, the Aryan-Hindus became more 
civilised and even luxurious, as they acquired greater riches 
by their conquests. In the latter part of the Heroic 
Age, when the Aryans had conquered all Northern India, 
or Aryavartta, as far as Bengal, and had made slaves of all 
those aborigipes who had not been killed or driven away, 
there appears to have been a great deal of wealth and 
luxury in the palaces of the Maharajas ; the nobles were 
rich and powerful ; the merchants and the industrial classes 
had become wealthy, and under the name of Vaisyas 
formed one of the three higher or ' twice-born ' castes of 
which we shall speak presently. 

5. Legends of the Heroic Age. It was said above 
that most of the legends of the Heroic Age have been 
preserved in the great epic poems, the Rdmayana and the 
Mahdbharata. The former is devoted to an account of 
the exploits of the hero Rama, a scion of the royal solar 
(or sun-descended) race of Ayodhya or Oudh. The child, 
hood and youth of Rama, his marriage with the beautiful 
Sita, and his banishment to the great forest of Dandaka 
(the jungles of Central India), are all described in most 
beautiful and glowing language; but the part that is 
historically most important is that which describes the 
invasion of Southern India and Lanka, or Ceylon, by the 
Aiyan conqueror Rama. Rama was afterwards worship- 
ped as an incarnation of Vishnu. 

The grand poem called the Mahdbhdrata contains a vast 
number of legends, of which the chief is that of the great 
war between the Pdndus and Kurus, two branches of a 
royal family, said to be descended from the moon, and hence 
called the Lunar Dynasty. The war was to determine 
which branch should obtain the empire of Hastinapura, a 
town near the modern site of Dehli. Krishna, regarded 
(like Rama) as an Avatar, or incarnation of Vishnu, was an 

C 



18 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

ally of the Pandus, and is one of the most important char- 
acters in the Mahdbhdrata. The decisive battle lasted for 
eighteen days, and was fought on the field of Kurukshetra ;* 
and the poem records that in this battle appeared, as allies 
on one side or the other, the ancestors of most of the 
princes of India of later times. The five Pandava princes 
were triumphant ; but shortly afterwards they retired to 
the Himalayas with their joint-wife Draupadi, and were 
translated to heaven by the god Indra. 



CHAPTER HI. 

MANU, THE GREAT LAWGIVER OP THE HINDUS. 

1. The Brahmanic Age. 2. The Laws of Maau. 3. The 
Hindu Schools of Philosophy. 

1. The Brahmanic Age, When the Aryan-Hindus 
had thoroughly conquered the whole of North India 
from the Indus to Bengal, and great Hindu empires had 
been established in various parts of the country under 
Maharajas descended from those conquerors, the Heroic- 
Age may be said to come to an end ; and it was succeeded 
by a period of peace and prosperity, marked chiefly by the 
wonderfully-increased influence of the Brdhmans, who now 
became by far the most powerful class amongst the Hin- 
dus. Hence this period of Indian history, following the 
Heroic Age, is sometimes called the Brahmanus Age ; it 
lasted from a very early time (how early we do not know) 
to about 300 B.C. 

2. The Laws of Manu. The manners and customs of 

* The site of Kurukshetra is the plain south of Ambalab, on the 
road to Dehli, near the famous battlefield of Thaneswar [see Chap. IX.] 
Further south, still on the road to Dehli, is the famous battlefield of 
Panipat [see Chap. X.] North at Ambalah -was the ancient fortress of 
Sirhind [see Chap. IX.] 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 19 

the Hindus during the Brahmamc Age are fully illustrated 
and described in one of the Smritis, or Dharmasdstras, 
called the Manava Dharmasastra, or Laws of Manu. 

NOTE. The religious writings of the Hindus are divided into Sruti, 
to which the Vedas belong, and Smriti, including all the other writings 
regarded as sacred, but not possessing that divine authority ascribed to 
the Vedas. 

Of the great lawgiver Manu himself we know nothing 
certain, but his laws give us a good general view of Hindu 
society as it existed during the Brahmanic period. 

The distinct and authoritative settlement of the caste 
system is one of the most prominent features of the laws 
of Manu. The four castes were: (1) the Brahman, or 
pi'iestly caste ; (2) the Kshatriya, or military caste ; (3) 
the Vaisya, or industrial caste ; (4) the Sudra, or servile 
caste. The first three castes were called ' twice-born, ' 
and all the laws tend to their elevation and to the depres- 
sion of the Sudras. 

The most striking points in the caste system as it existed 
at the time of these laws were : 

First, the extraordinary dignity and sanctity accorded 
to the Brahmans, for whose good all other persons and all 
things were thought to be made ; some of their privileges 
were also enjoyed, but in a far smaller degree, by the 
Kshatriyas and Vaisyas. 

Secondly, the bitter contempt and even hatred felt and 
displayed against the Sndras ; their only duty was to serve 
the other castes, and especially the Brahmans ; but if 
they -were unable to obtain any service, then they were 
allowed to earn a precarious subsistence (but never to 
get rich) by means of handicrafts. This degraded condi- 
tion of the Sudras seems to indicate that they were the 
remains of conquered races, the conquerors being the 
' twice-born.' 

Thirdly, the absence of any provision for the regular 
performance of the mechanical arts and handicrafts, when 
the Sndras were able to find service as prescribed in the 

c ? 



20 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

jaw. These functions were probably performed, as now, 
by the mixed castes i.e, the castes formed by iiitermar- 
riages between the four original castes. 

It may be noted that the Kshatriya and Vaisya castes 
are said by some to be now extinct ; though the Rajputs 
and a few other tribes claim to be descended from the 
former, and a few industrial tribes call themselves Vaisyas. 
The great majority of Hindus now belong to the mixed 
castes, which castes maintain their caste distinctions with 
even more care than was formerly exhibited by the original 
castes. 

The government in the various States was tinder a Raja, 
whose power was despotic, according to the arrangements 
of Manu, except that he was bound to abide by the advice 
of the Brahmans. It is a noteworthy fact that as the 
power of the Brahmans increased, the jurisdiction of the 
Rajas became more despotic. Under the king were the 
lords of 1,000 villages; under each of the latter* were 
lords of 100 villages, the hundred villages corresponding 
to what is now called a Parganah. Under these again were 
the headmen of the villages, the Mandals or Patels ; and 
all these officers were regarded as officers of the Raja. 

In the village communities the system of administra- 
tion seems to have been almost identical with that which 
has prevailed in India for ages. The headman settled 
with the Raja the sum to be paid as revenue, apportioned 
these payments amongst the villagers, and was answer, 
able for the payments and for the good conduct of the 
village. He held a portion of land rent-free, and he also 
received fees from the villagers, and was sometimes paid 
a salary by the Government. In all disputes he acted as 
umpire, assisted by arbitrators named by the disputants. 
The headman was assisted by various other officials, of 
whom the chief were the accountant and the watchman ; 
all these officials were paid by fees, by assignments of rent- 
free land, and sometimes by salaries. 

The Laws of M^nu regarding crimes were very rade^ 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 21 

but not cruel; those regarding property were fair and 
good ; and in both, directions were given about the most 
minute matters of daily life. The worst points were the 
favour shown to the higher castes and the oppression of 
the Sndras. 

High regard for immemorial custom is an important 
feature in the Laws of Manu. The marriage laws were 
fair and just ; the wife was commanded strictly to obey 
her husband, and other women to obey their natural 
guardians ; but every provision was made for the welfare 
of the female sex. Brahmans were ordered to divide their 
lives into four portions ; in their youth they were to be 
students, and to observe celibacy ; in the second portion 
of their lives they were to live with their wives as house- 
holders, and discharge the ordinary duties of Brahmans ; 
in the third portion they were to live as hermits in the 
woods, and submit to very severe penances ; in the fourth 
they were to engage solely in contemplation, and were 
freed from all ceremonial observances. The arts of life in 
this period, though still in a simple state, were not rude ; 
and the numerous professions spoken of (goldsmiths, 
carvers, artists, &c.) show that the people possessed most 
things necessary to civilisation. 

3. The Hindu Schools of Philosophy. The Hindus 
have always been fond of the study of philosophy ; and 
it is probable that this study much influenced the na- 
tional mind during the Brahmanic period, and had some 
share in inducing them to accept Buddhism [see next 
chapter]. Six great sects or schools of philosophy were 
founded amongst the Hindus at various unknown times. 
These six Darsanas were : (1) the Sdnlehya system, founded 
by Kapila ; (2) the Yoga system of Patanjali ; (3) the 
Nydya system of Gautama ; (4) the Vaiseshika system of 
Kanada ; (5) the Purva-Mimdnsd of Jaimini ; and (6) the 
Uttara-Mimdnsd or Veddnta of Vyasa. 



22 AN EASY INTKODUCTION TO 



CHAPTER IV. 

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 
1. Buddha, a great Reformer. 2. The spread of Buddhism. 

1. Buddha, a great Reformer. About the middle of the 
Gth century B.C. (i.e. about 550 B.C.), a young prince was 
born to the Raja of Kapilavastu, a kingdom probably 
situated in Gorakhpur or Nepal, at the foot of the Himalaya 
Mountains, north of Oudh. This prince was named Salnjn 
Mvmi, or Gautama, and tie was afterwards known as BUDDHA, 
or the Enlightened. He belonged of course to the Kshatriya 
or soldier caste, but from his youth upwards he was much 
addicted to study and contemplation. At an early age he 
left his father's palace in order to become a devotee, first 
as a disciple of the Brahmans, and afterwards in a lonely 
hermitage. Finally, he devised a new religion, which, 
under the name of Buddhism, afterwards became the chief 
religion in India for about a thousand years, and which is 
still the religion of about one-third of the human race. He 
now claimed the title of Buddha, and spent the rest of his 
life in preaching the doctrines of this new religion, in 
teaching that all men are really equal, without respect to 
caste, and that salvation is to be attained by indifference to 
worldly pleasures and desires, and by the practice of the 
great virtues of truth, purity, honesty, and (above all) 
maitri, or charity and benevolence towards all created 
beings. The great aim of Buddhism was to obtain Nirvana 
or annihilation, by which alone, according to the teachings 
of Buddha, man can obtain salvation from human passions 
and sorrows, and from the eternal transmigrations of the 
Ronl. The pure and simple morality of Buddhism com- 
mended it to the people ; and before the death of Buddha 
it is probable that a great part of Bihar and the neigh- 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 23 

bouring provinces belonged to the new religion the Bang 
of Magadha [see next chapter] being one of the converts 

2. The Spread of Buddhism. The doctrines of Buddha 
rapidly spread into other parts of India ; and afterwards 
into Tibbat, Burmah, Siam, Ceylon, and China. A 
Buddhist Council, or meeting of the chief followers of 
the faith, was held shortly after his death. Another 
council followed it ; and a third was held in the seven- 
teenth year of the reign of King Asoka [see Chap. VI.], 
when Buddhism had become the state or royal religion 
of India. At one or other of these councils the Sacred 
Books or Holy Scriptures of the Buddhists were drawn 
up. They were called the Tripitalca, or Three Baskets. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GREEKS IN INDIA. 

1. The Invasion of the Panjab by the Persians. 2. The In- 
vasion of Alexander the Great. 3. The Invasion of India by Seleu 
Cus. 4. The Bactrian Greeks. 5. Greek Accounts of the Ancient 
Hindus. 

1. The Invasion of the Panjab by the Persians. During 
the lifetime of Buddha, a great king of the Persians, 
named Darius Hystaspes, invaded the Panjab. He crossed 
the Indus by a bridge of boats, which was built for him by 
his Greek admiral, Skylax. He succeeded in conquering a 
part of the Panjab, which he formed into a Persian satrapy, 
that is, a province governed by a satrap, or viceroy. 

2. The Invasion of Alexander the Great. Nearly two 
hundred years afterwards the Empire of Persia was con- 
quered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great, King of 
Macedon ; and in the year 327 B.C. Alexander proceeded 
to invade India. 

In his march through the Panjab he had to cross the 
river Jhelam, near a place named Gujarat, in modern timeB 



24 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

famous as the scene of the final great defeat of the Sikhs by 
the English in 1848 [see Chapter XXXII.] Here he was 
met by the combined armies of the Rajas of this part of 
India, commanded by a prince belonging to the Paurava dy- 
nasty, who was called by the Greeks Fonts. In the great 
battle that followed the Indian army was more numerous 
than the Greek, and had moreover the advantage of two 
hundred elephants and three hundred war-chariots. The 
Indians fought bravely, according to the account of the 
Greeks ; but they were unable to withstand the discipline 
of Alexander's army. The two sons of Porus were killed, 
and his army utterly routed. Alexander, pleased with 
the courage of Porns, treated him kindly. He not only 
restored him to his kingdom, but also enlarged its extent ; 
and Porus was henceforth a faithful ally of the Greeks. 

After this Alexander wished to press on and conquer 
the great Empire of Magadha, of which we shall hear in the 
next chapter ; but he found so much difficulty in conquer* 
ing the Panjab, that the Greek soldiers refused to march 
further than the banks of the Satlej, and Alexander was 
compelled to return to his Persian dominions. He himself, 
with part of his army, marched back through the deserts of 
Biluchistan ; whilst the rest of the army, under the great 
admiral Nearchus, went home by sea from the mouth of 
the Indus through the Persian Gulf to the river Euphrates. 

3. The Invasion of India by Seleucus. After the death 
of Alexander, one of the best of his generals, named Seleu- 
cus, seized on a part of his Asiatic conquests, and deter- 
mined to renew Alexander's attempt to conquer India. 
Chandragupta [see next chapter], called by the Greeks San- 
dracottus, was at this time the King of Magadha, and the 
richest and most powerful monarch in India ; and Seleucus 
actually marched as far as the Ganges in order to attack him. 
A treaty, however, was made by which Seleucus agreed to 
give Chandragnpta his daughter in marriage, and gave np 
to him the provinces east of the Indus in return for a tribute 
of fifty elephants. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 25 

4, The Bactrian Greeks. Bactria was the name of that 
province of the Greek empire in Asia that was north of Af- 
ghanistan ; it is now called Balkh. Under the successors of 
Seleucus the Greek governors of Bactria became kings, and 
for some centuries the kings of Bactria maintained a power- 
ful empire in this part of Asia, which often included large por- 
tions of the west and north-west of India. Ultimately, a 
dynasty of Bactrian kings, who all bore the name of Soter, 
were driven out of their northern dominions into India ; and 
for many years they ruled over an empire which included 
Sindh, part of the North- West Provinces, the Panjab, and 
Afghanistan. 

5. GreeJc Accounts of the Ancient Hindus. The most 
striking points about the Greek accounts of the stale of 
India at this time are : 

(1) Their general agreement with the accounts in Manu ; 
(2) the little change that has since occurred during two 
thousand years ; (3) the favourable impression which, thfe 
manners and condition of the Hindus made on the Greeks. 
The men are described as braver than any Asiatics whom 
the Greeks had yet met, and singularly truthful. They are 
said to be sober, temperate, and peaceable ; remarkable for 
simplicity and integrity ; honest, and averse to litigation. 
The practice of widows becoming satt had already been in- 
troduced, but probably only partially ; for it is spoken of 
by Aristobulns as one of the extraordinary local peculiari- 
ties which he heard of at Taxila. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE TRIUMPH AND DECLINE OF BUDDHISM. 

1. Chandragupta, King of Magadha. 2. Asoka. 3. The 
Decline of Buddhism. 4. The Jainas. 

1. Chandragupta, King of Magadha. We have already 
had occasion to speak once or twice of the kings of Ma- 



26 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

gadha or Bihar. Their capital was at Patna, on the Ganges, 
then called Patalipntra. We have mentioned a king of 
Magadha, who was one of the converts of the great Buddha 
himself; and another king of Magadha, whose power and 
riches attracted the envy of Alexander the Great. The name 
of this king was Nanda, the Rich, and he was succeeded by 
the famous CHANDRAGUPTA, the founder of the great Mau- 
ryan dynasty of kings, who was the first to bring all North 
India under one umbrella. Chandragupta was said to be 
a man of low origin, who succeeded in mastering the Panj- 
ab after the rotrcat of Alexander the Great, and ultimately 
possessed himself of Nanda's empire in Magadha. He sub- 
seqnently married the daughter of the Greek King of 
Syria, Seleucus ; and during his prosperous reign of 
twenty-four years (from 315 to 291 B.C.), he conquered a 
considerable portion of Northern India. 

2. Asoka. The conquests of Chandragupta were con- 
tinued by his son ; but the greatest monarch of the whole 
dynasty, and indeed the greatest monarch of ancient times 
in India, was Chandragupta's grandson, ASOKA. He as- 
cended the throne of Magadha about the year 263 B.C., 
and reigned for about forty years, until 223 B.C. During 
his rule Buddhism became the state or royal religion of the 
empire, having been proclaimed as such at the third great 
Buddhist Council [see Chap. IV., 2], held under the pa- 
tronage of Asoka, in the seventeenth year of his reign. 
Many inscriptions made by order of Asoka have been re- 
cently discovered in various parts of India, containing 
some of his laws and proclamations. These are called the 
edicts of Asoka, and prove that his kingdom extended at 
least to Orissa and the eastern parts of the Dakhin, on the 
one side of India, and to the west of Gujarat and to the 
extreme north of the Panjab, on the other side. 

3. The Decline of Buddhism. The Mauryan line of 
kings reigned for more than a hundred years in Bihar, and 
was succeeded by other powerful Buddhist dynasties in suc- 
cession ; and Buddhism was flourishing in Magadha aa late 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 27 

as the seventh century A.D., when it was visited by the 
Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Hiouen Thsvng. It is probable, 
however, that after the fall of the great Mauryan dynasty 
of Buddhists the religion of the Brahmans began gradually 
to revive throughout India. Though Buddhism existed in 
India until the twelfth century A.D. that is, for more than 
1,300 years longer and often was the religion of powerful 
kings and great states, yet on the whole it declined from 
this time, about 200 B.C. Whilst the great city of Kanauj 
had always remained devoted to Brahmanism, the other 
cities and kingdoms of India one by one returned to a mo- 
dified form of their earlier religion, the same form as that 
which is now professed by most Hindus. 

4. The Jamas. During the decline of Buddhism 
another religion, called Jainism, was very powerful in 
India. In point of doctrines it was midway between 
Buddhism and Brahmanism ; it originated about 600 A.D., 
and declined after 1,200 A.D., though many Jainas are still 
to be found in various parts of India. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE REVIVAL OF BRAHMANISM. 

1. The Puranas. 2. The rise of the Rajputs. 8. Maiwar 
and other Rajput States. 4. The Hindu Kings of Bengal. 5. The 
Kings of the Dakhin. 

1. Puranas. The Puranas are the later religious books 
of the Brahmans. They are called Puranas because they 
profess to teach that which is ' old ' the old faith of the 
Hindus. They are generally supposed to date only from 
800 A.D., many of them being of much later date. But 
they give a view of the religion of the revival of Brah- 
manism, and are mainly devoted to an interpretation of the 
beliefs of the various sects of worshippers of Vishnu, Siva, 



38 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

&c. Besides this, they are storehouses of mythological and 
legendary stories ; they contain not only genealogies and 
lives of gods, but also genealogies of kings and heroes ; 
and from some of the latter gleams of historical truth may 
be derived. 

The Puranas are eighteen in number. Though teach- 
ing a veneration for the Vedas, the religion is quite dif- 
ferent from the Vaidik, and also from that of the Darsanas. 
It represents the popular Brahmanical religion of India. 
Three gods, Brahma the Creator, Siva the Destroyer, and 
Vishnu the Preserver, are recognised ; though the wor- 
ship of Brahma is neglected. Deified heroes, such as Rama 
and Krishna, are worshipped as incarnations, or avatars, 
of Vishnu ; and there are also an infinite number of lesser 
gods. 

2. The Rise of the Rajputs. Of the many centuries 
during which Brahmanism was gradually driving Buddhism 
out of India, the history is so uncertain and obscure that 
we shall not dwell upon it at length. The period was 
marked by the rise and progress of a large number of Raj- 
put principalities, not only in that part of India which is 
now called Rajputana, but also throughout the north of 
India. Some of these Rajput principalities still exist, such 
as Maiwar or Udaipur, and Jodhpur or Marwar ; and from 
the chronicles, which are preserved in the families of the 
chiefs of these states, some accounts of their early history 
have been preserved. 

Most of these early Rajput principalities were devoted 
to Brahmanism ; and the Rajput princes were doubtless the 
chief auxiliaries whom the Brahmans used in recovering 
their power over India. This is probably the meaning of 
the legend in the Puranas, which says that the ancestors of 
the Rajputs were miraculously created in order to drive 
the enemies of the Vedas out of the land. The legend, 
which is called the ' legend of the Agnikulas,' is as fol- 
lows : When the holy Rishis, or sages, who dwelt on 
Mount Abu, complained that the Vedas were trampled un- 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 29 

der foot, and that the land was in the possession of Rak- 
shasas (or Buddhists), they were ordered by Brahma to 
re-create the race of Kshatriyas, who had been extirpated 
by Parasu Rama. This was effected by purifying the 
' fountain of fire ' with water from the Ganges, when there 
sprang from the fountain four warriors, called the Agni- 
Tculas, or generation of fire, who, amidst many marvels, 
cleared the land of the Rakshasas. Many of the modern 
Rajputs claim descent from these Agnikulas, who thus 
propagated Brahmanism. 

For some centuries during the period of which we are 
speaking the most powerful family in India, and the 
greatest of all the Rajput dynasties, was called Andhra. 
Branches of this great family reighed in Magadha 
(whence they had expelled the Buddhist kings), in War- 
angal, in that part of the Dakhin called Telinganah, south 
of Orissa, and also in Ujjain, in Malwah,* which was the 
most famous city of India at that time. The greatest 
king of the Andhra dynasty was the heroic VIKRAMA- 
DITTA, King of Ujjain. He is said to have sprung from the 
Pramaras, the chief race of the Agnikulas ; and innumer- 
able legends are told of the extent of his conquests, of his 
bravery and virtue, of the beauty of his throne, and the 
magnificence of his court. Some of these legends are doubt- 
less true of Raja Vikramaditya himself; whilst others pro- 
bably belong to the lives of other great kings of ancient 
times, whose names had been forgotten by the old histo- 
rians, or had never been known to them, so that they 
assigned all the grandeur and all the conquests to Vik- 
ramaditya. These old historians say that he was un- 
equalled in wisdom, justice, and valour, and that he had 
spent a large part of his life in travelling through various 
countries as afaqir, in order to learn the wisdom and arts 
of foreign nations. It is said that he was fifty years old 

* Ujjain, in Malwah, on the river Sipra, is now included in a 
detached portion of the dominions of Maharaja Sindia [see Appendix, 
Part I.] in the Central India Agency. 



30 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

before he attempted to make any conquests ; and that then, 
within a few months, he subdued the countries of Malwah 
and Gujarat, and soon became Maharaja Adhiraj of India 
[see next sec.] In the midst of all the grandeur of his 
court he lived a life of the strictest temperance ; he slept 
upon a mat, and the only furniture of his room was an 
earthen pot filled with pure water. The great poet Kali- 
ddsa, who wrote the famous drama called Sakuntald, and 
the beautiful lyric poem called Meghaduta, was one of the 
learned who adorned his court, and who were therefore 
called its ' gems.' The era of Vikramaditya, 57 B.C., is 
still widely current in Hindustan ; in the Dakhin the era 
of Sdlivdhana, 77 A.D., is sometimes used. Salivahana was 
a great protector of Brahmans, who was king of Patan, on 
the river Godavari. 

3. Maiwar and other Rajput States. The name Mai- 
wdr is a contraction of Madyawar, and means the ' Central 
Region ; ' and its princes ruled, at a later period, before 
the invasion of the Muhammadans, over a large tract of 
country in Rajpiitana and Malwah. They belonged to the 
Gehlot family of Rajputs, who had ruled successively at 
Kanauj and at Vallabhi, in Gujarat. The Gehlot Rajputs 
were driven out of Vallabhi by an invasion of Persians 
about the year 500 B.C. ; but the Gehlot prince, who was 
called Golia, married the daughter of the Persian king, and 
established the Gehlot dynasty in Maiwar. The descend- 
ant of Prince Goha still reigns in Maiwar as the Maharana 
of Udaipur, who is one of the great feudatory chiefs of the 
British Indian Empire. 

Besides Maiwar there were many other great Rajput 
States both in Hindustan and in the Dahkin ; and at the 
time of the Muharnmadan invasions these Rajput Rajas, 
with the King of Bengal, commanded the allegiance of all 
the Hindu principalities of Northern India. Sometimes 
one of these kingdoms became much more powerful than 
any of the others, and then its king was called MAHARAJA 
Annf RAJ, or Lord Paramount ; sometimes the King of Mai- 
war was Maharaja Adhiraj ; sometimes the King of Ajmir, 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 31 

who was a Tuar Rajput ; sometimes the King of Dehli, 
who was a Chohan Rajput ; sometimes the King of Kanauj, 
who was a Rahtor Rajput ; * and sometimes the King of 
Patan in Gujarat, who was a Salonkhya Rajput. 

4. The Hindu Kings of Bengal. It is said that, from 
the times of the Mahdbhdrata to the period of the Muham- 
madan invasion in A.D. 1203, four dynasties of kings reigned 
in Bengal. Of these, the last but one was a series of 
princes whose name was Pal, who reigned from the eighth 
to the latter part of the tenth century. They are thought 
to have been Buddhists. Of one Raja of this family, Deva 
Pal Deva, it is stated that he reigned over the whole of 
India, and that he had even conquered Tibbat. This state- 
ment probably simply means that this Raja was acknow- 
ledged as Maharaja Adhiraj. The capital of the dynasty 
was at Gaur; it was afterwards transferrd to Nuddea 
(Nadiya or Navadwipa). 

The Pal dynasty was succeeded by another line of 
kings called Sena. About 964 A.D. a king belonging to this 
family reigned in Bengal named Adisura, who invited five 
Brahmans from Kanauj to settle in Bengal. The Brahmans 
came, each attended by a Kayastha. These are said to be 
the ancestors of the five high classes of Brahmans and 
Kayasthas in Bengal. Adisura was probably the founder 
of the Sena dynasty. 

One of the Sena kings, named Ballala Sena, settled the 
precedence of the descendants of the five Kanaujya Brah- 
mans. The last was Lakhmaniya, or Su Sena, driven out 
from Nadiya by Bakhtiar Khilji [see Chap. XL, 8]. 

5. The Kings of the Dakhin. Far away in the south 
of India several powerful kingdoms existed during this 
period, of which the only ones we need mention are the 
Pdndya dynasty of Madura and the Chola dynasty, first 
at Kanchipuram (Conjeveram), and afterwards at Tanjor; 

* The present Maharana of Udaipur is descended in the direct line 
from the kings of Alaiwar ; the Maharaja of Jodhpur from those of 
Kanauj ; and the Maharajas of Jaipur, Kishangarh, Bikanir and Idar 
are also decended from these dynasties. 



32 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

and the Chera dynasty, in the extreme south and on the 
Western or Malabar coast. 

In Orissa the Kesari or ' Lion ' kings ruled for cen- 
turies at Jajpnr and afterwards at Katak, and were fol- 
lowed by the Ganga Vansa, or ' Gangetic' dynasty. The 
kings of Orissa bore the title of Gajpati, or ' Lord of 
Elephants.' 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SULTAN MAHMUD OF GHAZNf. 

1. Muhammadan Invasions of India. 2. Sultan Atahmud. 
3. Decline and Fall of the Ghaznavi Dynasty. 

1. Huliammadan Invasions of India. We have now 
arrived at the period when the Muhammadans first began 
to invade and conquer India ; and from this time the his- 
tory is full and clear, for the Muhammadans were always 
fond of the study of history, and there were always some 
Muhammadan writers who wrote down an account of events 
that occurred shortly after they happened. 

As early as the year 712 A.D., and only ninety years 
after the foundation of the Muhammadan religion in Arabia, 
a Mnsalman Arab, named Muhammad Kdsim, invaded and 
conquered Sindh, and held it for a short time. But it was 
not until the end of the tenth century, when the religion 
of the Prophet had spread over Afghanistan and all those 
regions of Central Asia to the north-west of India, that the 
great Mnhammadan invasions took place. 

SABAKTicfN, Sultan of Ghazni, in Afghanistan (called 
the first of the Ghaznavi dynasty), was originally a Tnrki* 

* The -wandering hordes of Tartars that inhabited the -whole of 
Central Asia from the Caspian Sea to the north of China were divided 
into three great races : (1) the Manchiis, -who lived furthest to the east, 
in the north of China ; (2) the Mongols or Mughuls, who lived in the 
centre, from Tibbat northward ; and (3) the Turkis, who lived west of 
the Mughuls. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 33 

slave ; by his bravery and abilities he rose to be monarch 
of a vast empire, including Afghanistan, Biluchistan, and 
Turkistan. A pleasing legend is told by some of the old 
historians to illustrate the kind and merciful disposition of 
Sabaktigin, which so much endeared him to his followers. 
It happened, when he was only a poor horseman in the 
service of the chief of Ghazni, that he was hunting one 
day in the forest. He saw a deer grazing with her fawn ; 
on which, putting spurs to his horse, he rode up and seized 
the fawn, laid him across his saddle, and rode away home- 
wards. When he had gone a little way he looked back, 
and saw the mother of the fawn following with piteous 
cries and moans. The soul of Sabaktigin melted into 
pity ; he untied the feet of the fawn and let him go. The 
happy mother ran away with her fawn to the forest, but 
often looked back, as if to thank Sabaktigin for his gene- 
rosity. That very night Sabaktigin had a dream, in which 
he thought a celestial being appeared to him and said : 
' The kindness and pity which you have this day shown to 
a distressed animal has been pleasing to God, and it is 
therefore recorded that you shall one day be King of 
Ghazni. But take care that greatness does not destroy 
your virtue, or make you less kind to men than you now 
are to dumb animals.' 

Sabaktigin was once attacked, in the valley of Peshawar, 
that leads from Afghanistan into the Panjab, by the 
Brahman King of Lahor, named Jaipal ; and in revenge 
he twice overran the whole of the Panjab, and carried 
back a vast amount of plunder to Ghazni having totally 
defeated, not only Jaipal himself, but also all his Rajput 
allies, who had assembled from Dehli, Ajmir, and Kanauj, 
to aid in repelling the fierce invader. 

NOTE. The Brahman dynasty that wao at this time reigning in 
Lahor, the chief town of the Panjab, is sometimes called the ' Bull and 
Horseman ' dynasty, because their coins bear the device of a bull and * 
horseman. 

D 



34 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

2. Sultan Mahmud. In these battles between the 
Sultan of Ghazni and the Raja of Labor, there was present 
the young prince MAHMUD of Ghazni, the son of Sabaktigin. 
He observed with keen pleasure both the great riches of 
the Indian Rajas, and the ease with which even the bravest 
of the Rajputs were slaughtered by the hardy and strong 
mountaineers of Ghazni ; and he determined that, on suc- 
ceeding his father as Sultan of Ghazni, he would devote 
himself to the conquest of India. 

In the year 996 A.D., Sabaktigin died, and Mahmud 
immediately proceeded to carry out his early determination. 
His earnest wish was both to possess himself of the wealth 
of India, and also to force the proud Rajputs to accept t'he 
Muhammadan religion ; and in honour of his zeal for Islam, 
the spiritual head of the Muhammadans, called the Khalif, 
sent him a khilat of extraordinary magnificence, together 
with the high-sounding titles of ' Right Hand of the State, 
Guardian of the Faith, and Friend of the Chief of* the 
Faithful.' The ' Chief of the Faithful ' was of course the 
Khalif himself, who doubtless hoped that Mahmud would 
diffuse the Muhammadan religion throughout India. Mah- 
mud hereupon vowed that ' every year he would undertake 
a holy war against Hindustan.' 

During the thirty- four years of his reign, Sultan Mahmud 
of Ghazni invaded India seventeen times ; and of these 
seventeen expeditions, twelve are famous. His zeal in the 
destruction of Hindu temples and idols obtained for him 
the name of ' the Image-breaker ; ' and the vast plunder 
which he carried away from India greatly enriched his own 
country, and made Ghazni the most beautiful and the 
wealthiest city of the age. The richest spoils were those 
of the great Hindu shrines of Nagarkot in the Himalayas, 
Thaneswar between the Saraswati and .the Jamnah, and 
Somnath in Gujarat ; and those of the sacred city of 
Mathura. 

It may be noted that Mah mud's expeditions extended 
us far eastward as Kanauj in Oudh, and as far southward 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 3.5 

as Somnath in Gujarat ; but lie only made a permanent 
settlement in the Panjab, where he established a Viceroy 
at Lahor. This was the commencement of Musalman dominion 
in India. 

The most famous of Mahmud's expeditions were the 
twelfth and the sixteenth. The twelfth expedition, in A.D. 
1018-19, was against Kanauj and the sacred city of 
Mathura or Muttra, on the Jamnah. Mahmiid was now 
determined to penetrate into the heart of Hindustan. His 
army consisted of 100,000 horse and 20,000 foot; these 
were gathered from all parts of his dominions, including 
the recent conquests which he had made in Bukhara and 
Samarkhand. He marched from Peshawar along the foot 
of the mountains, crossing the Panjab rivers as near to 
their sources as possible ; and presented himself before 
Kananj. This was a stately city full of incredible wealth ; 
and its kings, who often held the title of Maharaja, Adhirdj, 
kept a splendid court. The Raja threw himself on the 
generosity of Mahmiid, who admitted him to his friendship, 
and after three days left his city uninjured. 

From thence he advanced to Mathura, sacred as the 
birthplace of Krisnna ; which was given up to the soldiers 
for twenty days. Its temples struck Mahmiid with admira- 
tion, and kindled in him the desire to cover the barren 
rocks of Ghazni with similar edifices. Hindu slaves after 
this were sold in the army of the conqueror at two rupees 
each. 

The sixteenth expedition (which was also the last, ex- 
cept a small and unimportant one a little later) was under- 
taken by Mahmiid in 1026-27 A.D., against the famous 
temple of Somnath in the Gujarat peninsula. The march 
was long, including 350 miles of desert; and Mahmiid 
made extraordinary preparations for it. He passed through 
Multan, and thence across the desert to Anhalwara or 
Nahrwala, the ancient capital of Gujarat ; whose Raja, 
named Bhim, fled before him. The struggle before Som- 
nath was terrible, and lasted three days. The Rajput 

D2 



36 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

princes assembled from all parts to defend their holiest 
shrine ; but their desperate valour was unavailing against 
the bravery and enthusiasm of Mahmud and his veterans. 
The treasure obtained was immense ; some of the Muham- 
madan historians say that the image of Somnath (which 
the Brahmans had offered to ransom by the payment of 
many crores of gold coins), when broken by Mahmud's 
own hand, was found to contain a mass of rubies and 
other precious stones far exceeding in value the offered 
ransom. 

An interesting story is told of Mahmud to show his 
magnanimity and the readiness with which he accepted 
good advice even when it was disagreeable. It is said that 
some Biluchi robbers having taken possession of a strong 
fortress on the road by which merchants travelled from 
Ghazni into Persia, were in the habit of plundering all 
the caravans that passed that way. One day they robbed 
a body of merchants, and killed a young man of Khonasan, 
who was of their number. His old mother complained to 
Mahmud, who told her that such accidents occurred in 
that part of the country because it was too far from his 
capital for him to be able to prevent them. The old woman 
replied, ' Keep no more territory than you can manage 
properly.' The Sultan was so much struck by the justice 
of this remark, that he ordered a strong guard to be fur- 
nished to all caravans traversing that road ; and proceeded 
to extirpate the robbers that infested it. 

Another well-known story that is told of Mahmud 
shows his character in a less favourable light ; for it shows 
that his avarice was even stronger than his sense of justice. 
Ferdausi [see Appendix] was one of the greatest poets of 
the world, and was much encouraged by Mahmud, who was 
very fond of poetry. Ferdausi at length determined to 
write a grand heroic poem, which should make his name 
and that of his patron Mahmud famous throughout all ages ; 
and Mahmud in a fit of generosity declared he would give 
him a gold muhur (sixteen rupees) for every verse of tbe 



THE HISTORY OP INDIA. 37 

poem. On this promise, the great poet went away, and 
soon returned with the Shah Nameh, a poem which will be 
famous as long as the Persian language exists. The poem 
contained no less than sixty thousand verses ; and Mahmud, 
repenting of his former generosity, meanly offered Ferdausi 
only sixty thousand rupees, or one-sixteenth of the sum 
promised. Ferdausi indignantly refused the offer, and 
retired from Court. It is said that Mahmud was afterwards 
anxious to atone for his meanness by paying the full 
amount; but that when his messengers arrived with the 
gold at the house of Ferdausi, they met his dead body, 
which was being carried out for interment. 

3. Decline and Fall of the Ghaznavi Dynasty. The 
descendants of Mahmud reigned in the Panjab for more 
than a hundred and forty years after his death, though 
long before that time they had been driven out of their 
dominions in Central Asia. They were at length con- 
quered by the chieftains of Ghor, which was a hill terri- 
tory in Afghanistan between Ghazni and Persia ; and 
the last of the race was killed in prison, just before the 
conquest of Hindustan by Muhammad of Ghor. Daring 
this period, the Rajput Kings of Ajmir, Dehli, Kanauj, 
Maiwar, and Anhalwara or Gujarat, were the rulers of 
Northern India ; and were often fighting with one another 
for the supremacy. 



CHAPTER IX. 

MUHAMMAD GHORI, AND THE CONQUEST OF HINDUSTAN BY THE 
MUHAMMADANS. 

1. Prithvi Raja. 2. Shahab-ud-din or Muhammad Ghori. 
3. The decisive battle of Thaneswar. 4. Completion of the 
Muhammadan conquest of Hindustan. 

1. Prithvi Raja. Of all the princes of Northern India 
who were reigning at the end of the twelfth century, by far 



38 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

the greatest and most famous was the King of Ajmir and 
Dehli. 

Prithvi Raja, or Rai Pithaura, represented the flower 
of Rajput chivalry ; and has always been one of the favourite 
heroes of the Hindus. His mother was a Tuar Rajput 
Princess of Dehli ; his father was Someswar, an heir of the 
Chohans of Ajmir. Jaichand, Raja of Kanauj, was his 
cousin, being the son of another Tuar princess, sister of 
Prithvi's mother ; Prithvi, however, notwithstanding the 
opposition of Jaichand, had succeeded to the two thrones of 
Dehli and Ajmir. His praises are sung in the poems of 
Chand Bardai, his devoted admirer and friend. 

2. Shahdb-ud-din or Muhammad Gliori. But soon 
the heroic Prithvi had to meet an enemy more formidable 
than any that the Hindus had yet encountered. The fierce 
and gigantic Afghans of Ghor had already conquered 
Mnltan and the Ghaznavi Kings of Lahor. They were 
under the command of a bold and determined soldier named 
Shahdb-iid-din, better known in history as MUHAMMAD 
GHOKI, who was joint Sultan of Ghor with his more peace- 
ful brother Ghias-ud-din, and who, though he had been once 
defeated in an attack on the Rajputs of Anhalwara, was 
bent on effecting the conquest of Hindustan. In 1191 the 
Ghorian Sultan advanced from Lahor across the Satlej in 
the direction of Dehli, and captured the fortress of Sirhind, 
north of the modern Ambalah [see note on page 18]. 
Prithvi marched out to meet him, at the head of a mighty 
army of Chohan Rajputs and their allies ; and a hard-fought 
battle took place at a village called Tirdori near Thaneswar 
[see note on page 18], A Muhammadan historian gives 
the foil owing brief account of this battle : ' The battle- 
array was formed ; and the Sultan Shahab-ud-din, seizing 
a lance, made a rush upon the elephant which carried 
Gobind Rai of Dehli (one of Prithvi's chief heroes). The 
latter advanced to meet him in front of the battle ; and 
then the Sultan, who was a second Rustam and the Lion 
of the age, drove his lance into the month of the Rai, and 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 39 

knocked two of the accursed wretch's teeth down his 
throat. The Rai, on the other hand, returned the blow and 
inflicted a severe wound on the arm of his adversary. The 
Sultan reined back his horse and turned aside, and the pain 
of the wound was so insufferable that he could not support 
himself on horseback. The Musalman army gave way, and 
could not be controlled. The Sultan was just falling, when 
a sharp and brave young Khilji Afghan recognised him, 
jumped upon the horse behind him, and clasping him round 
the body, spurred on the horse and bore him from the 
midst of the fight. When the Musalmans lost sight of the 
Sultan, a panic fell upon them ; they fled and halted not 
until they were safe from the pursuit of the victors.' 

3. The decisive Battle of Thdneswar. Prithvi Raja, 
after this glorious victory, set to work to form a great 
confederation of all the Rajput States, so that he might be 
able to renew his successes against the dreaded Afghans 
if they should return. He was so far successful that no less 
than 150 Rajput princes followed his banners, when he 
marched out a second time to meet Muhammad Ghori ; 
but the persistent jealousy of Prithvi's cousin, Raja 
Jaichand of Kanauj, greatly weakened the Hindu cause. 

In the meantime Muhammad had returned to Ghor, and 
had spared no pains to make his army invincible. The 
punishment he is said to have inflicted on those Umards or 
chiefs who had run away from the battle-field at Tiraori is 
very amusing. He forced them to walk round the city of 
Glior with their horses' food-bags, filled with barley, hang- 
ing about their necks as if they were donkeys at the same 
time forcing them to eat the barley or have their heads 
struck off; and most of the Umaras preferred to eat the 
barley. In the following year Muhammad Ghori again ad- 
vanced upon Dehli burning to avenge his disgrace ; and 
again the Musalman and Hindu armies met on the field of 
T/idneswar, 1193 A.D. One hundred and twenty thousand 
horsemen bearing heavy armour, and forty thousand light 
armed cavalry, followed the Mnhammadan leader to win 



40 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

for him the land which he claimed by right of the ccmqnests 
of Mabmud of Ghazni, and to force the haughty Rajputs 
to accept the religion of the Prophet. On the other band, 
hundreds of thousands of brave Rajputs in the army of 
Prithvi felt that they were fighting for their homes, tbeir 
country, their religion, and all that was dear to them. 
They fought with the desperate valour of patriots ; but 
all was of no avail against the hardy and well-disciplined 
veterans of Muhammad Ghori. Gobind Rai, who had 
wounded the Sultan in the former battle, was killed in the 
middle of the contest ; and it is said that Muhammad 
recognised the head of his old foe by the two teeth which 
he had himself broken. When at length Prithvi saw that 
the day was against him, and that the Hindus were hope- 
Jessly routed, he alighted from his elephant ; and mount- 
ing a horse, he galloped away from the battle-field, in the 
hope of collecting his scattered forces for another attempt 
at resistance. He was, however, very soon captured and 
put to death ; and the Muhammadan Empire in India was 
firmly established by this one battle. 

4. Completion of the Muhammadan Conquest of Hin- 
dustan. The Raja Jaichand of Kanauj, traitor not only 
to his cousin Prithvi but also to his country, paid dearly 
for his folly ; for in the following year (1194) he was 
totally defeated by Muhammad Ghori in a great battle at 
Chandrawar in the Doab (now Firuzabad, in the Agra 
division). Meanwhile Dehli and other Rajput capitals 
had been reduced by Kutb-ud-din. Kutb-ud-din, famous 
as the Muhammadan general who completed the conquest 
of Hindustan, had been the slave and was now the chief 
commander of the Sultan Muhammad ; and the latter had 
such confidence in Kutb's abilities and loyalty, that he 
left him as Viceroy in India, whilst he himself went back 
to Afghanistan. Thirteen years later, Muhammad returned 
to India ; and was assassinated in the Panjab by a band of 
Gakkhars, an aboriginal tribe living in that province. la 
the meantime, Kutb and some other Musalman generals bad 



THE HISTOBY OF INDIA. 41 

completely conquered the Hindus of Northern India 
Muhammad Bakhtyar Khilji being the conqueror of Bengal 
and Bihar [see Chap. XL, 3] ; and now, on the death of 
the Sultan Muhammad, Kutb-ud-din became Sultan of 
Dehli and of Hindustan. He was an accomplished warrior ; 
but he was especially famous for his generosity, which 
earned for him the surname of ' Bestower of Lakhs.' Long 
after, even in the time of Akbar, when a man was to be 
praised for his generosity, they would say of him ' he is as 
generous as Kutb-ud-din.' 



CHAPTER X. 

THE PATUXN OB AFGHAN SULTANS OP DEHLI. 

1. The Slave Kings of Dehli. 2. The Khilji Kings of Dehll. 
3. The Tughlak Kings of Dehli. 4. The Sayyid and Lodi 
Dynasties. 

1. The Slave Kings of Dehli. Sultan Kutb-ud-din, 
because he had been one of the slaves of Sultan Muham- 
mad Ghori, was called ' the Sultan, the slave of the Sul- 
tan of Ghor ; ' and as in like manner his successors were 
either slaves or the sons of slaves, the dynasty was called 
' the dynasty of the slaves of the Sultans of Ghor ' or 
shortly, the ' Slave Kings.' They reigned for nearly a hun- 
dred years, until the year 1290 A.D. ; and during this period 
nearly every vestige of the Hindu power in Northern India 
was destroyed ; whilst the Muhammadan generals who had 
conquered Sindh, Bengal, and other remote provinces, 
though they often rebelled and endeavoured to make them- 
selves independent, were generally kept in close subjection 
to the imperial throne of Dehli. The most famous of the 
sovereigns that reigned during this period were ALTAMSH, 
his daughter R,Azf AH (the only Empress that ever reigned 
alone in Dehli), and BALBAN. 



42 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

Altamsh was the greatest of all the Slave Kings. He 
reduced to submission both the Muhammadan king of 
Sindh, and also the KhUji chiefs who had succeeded Mu- 
hammad Bakhtyar Khilji as rulers of Bengal. He also 
subdued all the most important Hindu principalities in 
Hindustan ; and so firmly established his power, that his 
daughter, three of his sons, and one grandson inherited it 
in their turn. He ruled from 1210 to 1235 A.D. 

Raziah, who was always called Sultan, just as if she had 
been a man, was a woman of wonderful energy and ability, 
and seemed at first to have inherited all that capacity for 
government which had distinguished her father Altamsh. 
She, however, displeased all her nobles by showing undue 
favour to an Abyssinian slave in her court ; and she was at 
length deposed and put to death, to make room for one of 
her brothers. 

Balban was the vazir of the last of the sons of Altamsh, 
and had himself married one of the daughters of that 
monarch. He was a man of unsparing rigour, and *kept 
his army in a high state of discipline. The most impor- 
tant event of his reign was the rebellion of Tughral, whom 
he had made governor of Bengal ; who in 1282 A.D. as- 
sumed independence under the title of Sultan Mnghis-ud- 
din Tughral, and succeeded in defeating two several armies 
sent to subdue him. At length the Sultan marched against 
him in person ; and one of his commanders, named Muham- 
mad Sher, coming upon the forces of the rebel somewhat 
unexpectedly, dashed upon his camp with the most 
astonishing bravery, though at the head of only forty 
troopers. The rebels thought that they were attacked by 
the whole imperial army, and took to flight. Tughral was 
overtaken, and his head was struck off and brought to the 
Sultan, who now confided Bengal to the care of his second 
son, Bughra Khan. By the death of his elder brother, 
Bughra Khan became heir to the empire, and was begged 
by Balban to come back to Dehli ; but he preferred his 
quiet and secure rule in Bengal, and ultimately his eldest 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 43 

son Kaikubad became emperor, whilst Bughra himself 
remained at Lakhnauti as king of Bengal. 

A wicked and ambitions vazir of the Emperor Kaikubad, 
named Nizam-ud din, endeavoured to sow discord between 
the father and son, because Bnghra Khan had warned his 
son against the machinations of the wicked vazir, and 
remonstrated with Kaikubad about his licentious habits. 
The result was that the father and son met, each at the 
head of an army, in the plains of Bihar. For two days the 
armies remained encamped near each other ; on the third 
day, the old King of Bengal wrote a letter to his son with 
his own hand, begging for an interview. At first the 
wicked vazir succeeded in preventing this interview ; and 
even when it was arranged, he persuaded the weak young 
Kaikubad that it was necessary for his dignity as Emperor 
of Hindustan, that his father the King of Bengal should 
first prostrate himself three times before him. At length 
the time for the meeting arrived. The son proceeded first 
to the Darbar tents with great pomp ; then the aged father 
approached slowly, and as soon as he came in sight of the 
throne, made his first prostration : as he came nearer, he 
made the second prostration ; and when he arrived at the 
foot of the throne, was about to make the third ; when the 
prince, deeply affected at the humiliation of his father, and 
stung with remorse at his own undutiful conduct, rushed 
into the old man's arms ; and after tenderly embracing him 
and imploring his forgiveness, forced him to sit on the 
throne, whilst he himself took a respectful place below. 
The designs of the wicked vazir were thus frustrated, and 
he shortly afterwards died by poison. 

Bughra Khan after this reigned peaceably in Bengal 
until his death, 1292 A.D. ; but his unfortunate son 
Kaikubad was deposed and assassinated in 1290 by Jalal- 
nd-din, the first emperor of the Khilji dynasty. 

2. The Khilji Kings of Dehli, and the Conquest of the 
Dalchin. The Khilji tribe were nominally Afghans or Pa- 
thans ; though really they were Turkis [see note on page 



44 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

32] who had long settled in Afghanistan, and who aided in 
the Muhammadan conquest of India. Jalal-ud-din, who 
was the head of this tribe, was vazir of the Sultan Kaiku- 
bad ; and he ultimately dethroned and killed his master. 
The Khilji dynasty only ruled for thirty years, from 1290 
to 1320 A.D. ; but this period is an important one, for dur- 
ing the reigns of Jalal-ud-din and of the ferocious and 
bloodthirsty AiA-UD-DfN Kmuf (nephew and murderer of 
Jalal-ud-din), the Muhammadan armies of Dehli conquered 
the Dakhin. 

NOTE. The three chief states of the Dakhin at that time were 
Maharashtra, capital Deogiri (afterwards called Daulatabad) ; Telin- 
ganah, capital Warangal; and Dwara Samudra. Deogiri was situated 
in the north-west of what are now called the territories of the Nizam 
of Haidarabad [see Chapter I., 3, (k) ] ; and was still governed by 
Rajput Rajas. Warangal was in the north-eastern part of the same 
territories, and was under the rule of the Andhra Rajas of Rajput 
descent [see Chapter VII., 2]. Dwara Samudra was in North Mysore 
[see Chapter I., 3, (m)] ; and its Rajas were Rajputs of the I&llala 
Dynasty. 

During the reign of Jalal-nd-din Khilji, Ala-ud-din 
marched through the north-west of the Dakhin, and com- 
pelled Ramdeo, the Raja of Maharashtra, to give up to him 
a part of his territory, and to pay an enormous tribute. 
Ala-ud-din, after he had murdered his uncle and succeeded 
to the throne of Dehli, sent his greatest general, the 
famous eunuch Malik Kafur, four times into the Dakhin. 
In the course of these expeditions he re-conquered Ramdeo, 
who had revolted, and sent him to Dehli ; where his treat- 
ment was so generous, that he returned the attached and 
faithful vassal of the emperor. The Ballala Rajas of 
Dwara Samudra were also conquered ; Warangal was made 
tributary ; and the whole of the south ravaged as far as 
Rameswar or Cape Comorin in the extreme south, where 
a mosque was built as the sign of Muhammadan supremacy. 

Before these conquests in the Dakhin, Ala-nd-din had 
himself subjugated Gujarat in 1297 ; and in 1303 he sacked 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 45 

the famous fortress of Chitor, the capital of the Rajput Ma- 
harana of Maiwar. During the campaigns in the Dakhin, 
a famous incident occurred, which is sufficiently interesting 
to be mentioned here. Dewal Devi, the daughter of the 
Raja of Gujarat, was renowned as the most beautiful dam* 
sel in India : and the honour of her hand had been so 
eagerly sought for by the Hindu princes, that armies had 
been set in motion on her account. By chance, she and 
all her escort were captured by the Imperial army : she 
was sent to Dehli, and there she found her own mother 
Kamala Devi established as the favourite queen in the 
emperor's palace. It was not long before the young heir- 
apparent, Khizr Khan, saw and appreciated her charms. 
The love was mutual ; and though the emperor was at first 
angry, he at length consented to the match, and the young 
lovers were married in due form. The story of their lovea 
has been made the subject of a beautiful, though rather 
lengthy, Persian poem by Amir Khusrau. The interest in 
her tale is, however, sadly shaken by her melancholy 
after-fate, the penalty of her extraordinary beauty. As a 
widow, she was forcibly married to the two succeeding 
Sultans, one after the other ; the one being the brother and 
murderer of her husband, the other the base-born usurper 
Khusran. 

This Khusrau, who was originally a slave, a Hindu of 
the lowest caste, was vazir of one of the sons of Ala-ud- 
din. He murdered his master and all the adherents of that 
family, and took the princess Dewal Devi into his own 
seraglio. Though outwardly a Muhammadan, he persecuted 
all who belonged to that religion, whilst the Hindus hated 
him as an upstart and a renegade. Consequently he was 
soon defeated, and put to death by a Muhammadan chief 
named Ghazi Beg Tughlak, who ascended the throne with 
thp title of Ghias-ud-din TUGHLAK SHAH. 

o. The TughlaJc Kings of Dehli, and the Invasion oj 
Timur. Eight kings of the Tughlak dynasty ruled in 
Dehli for nearly a hundred years, from 1320 to J412 A.P. 



46 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

During this period the great Pathan empire of Dehli gra- 
dually fell to pieces, the fragments forming independent 
and sometimes powerful kingdoms. This was owing partly 
to the weakness and folly of some of the Tughlak kings, 
partly to the want of loyalty amongst the great Muhamma- 
dan generals, who often regarded themselves as the equals 
of their master at Dehli. The disintegration of the Pathan 
empire was hastened, too, by the short but terrible inva- 
sion of Timur the Tatar, sometimes called Tamerlane by 
European writers, who sacked Dehli in the reign of Mah- 
miid Tughlak, in 1398 A.D. 

The most important reigns of this dynasty were those 
of Muhammad Shah (13251351) ; Firuz Shah (1351 
1388) ; and Mahmiid Shah (13921412). During the 
reign of Muhammad Shah, a large portion of the Dakhin 
became independent under the Bahmani dynasty [see Chap. 
XI., 1] ; and in the reign of Firuz Shah his nephew, 
Haji Ilyas, established the independence of the Afghan 
dynasty of Bengal [see Chap. XI., 3]. Jaunpur, Gujarat, 
and Malwah became independent Muhammadan kingdoms 
during the reign of Mahmiid Shah, the grandson of Firuz. 
But the most striking event of this period was the successful 
invasion of Hindustan by Timur, to which reference has 
already been made, and which foreshadowed the Mughul 
conquest more than a century afterwards. 

Timiir was of the Chaghtai race, the leader of the im- 
mense hordes of Turkis and Mughuls that had subdued all 
Central and Western Asia. His chief cities were Bukhara 
and Samarkhand. Though only a rude Tatar, he had some 
pretensions to learning, and left an account of his life 
written by himself. These pretensions appear to have in- 
duced in him more respect for learned men than was usual 
amongst the Tatars. Many learned men accompanied his 
army on its march ; and it is amusing to note that he ordered 
them in times of danger to be placed behind the women, and 
the women to be placed behind the army. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 47 

Timur states in his autobiography that he was induced 
to invade India because of the civil wars that were raging 
there between the feeble Sultan Mahmud and his nobles, 
The fortress of Bhatnir capitulated to him, notwithstand- 
ing which the luckless inhabitants were massacred. Then 
he marched on towards Dehli; he met the Sultan Mahmud 
under the walls, and utterly defeated him, and then entered 
the Imperial city. Mahmud fled to Gujarat, whence he did 
not return to Dehli until long after Timur had left India. 
The latter professed a wish to spare the inhabitants of the 
city, but a slight disturbance having broken out amongst 
them, he allowed an indiscriminate slaughter. For 6ve 
days the conqueror continued feasting, while his troops 
plundered and slew the hapless citizens ; and they carried 
away captive as many as they were able of those whom they 
spared, including the wives and children of large numbers 
of the noblest Afghan and Hindu families. Timur almost 
immediately left India, as he was afraid of insurrection 
breaking out at home. It was said that each of his soldiers 
took away a hundred and fifty captives as slaves, even sol- 
diers' boys getting twenty slaves apiece ; and the richness 
of the booty was incalculable. 

After the departure of Timur, the Dehli empire was in 
a state of anarchy for a long time, the Sultan Mahmud 
having no real power. On the death of the latter in 1412 
A.D., the most powerful of the Afghan nobles, named Daulat 
Khan Lodi, seized the kingdom ; but in a short time he was 
conquered by Sayyid Khizr Khan, whom Timur had ap- 
pointed governor of Multan before he left India. 

. [NOTE. The title Sayyid amongst Muhammadans indicates descent 
from Muhammad, the Prophet and Founder of their religion.] 

4. The Sayyid and Lodi Dynasties. The Sayyid Khizr 
Khan at first professed to rule in right of the conqueror 
Timur ; but he soon assumed complete independence, and 
the dynasty founded by him extended to his son, grandson, 



48 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

and great-grandson, and lasted from 1414 to 1450 I.D. 
The Sayyid kings, however, were never in any way empe. 
rors of Hindustan, for their power seldom extended far 
from Dehli. At last a great Afghan noble named Buhlol 
Lodi, who had been governor of Lahor, after several un- 
successful attempts, succeeded setting aside the weak 
Sayyids, and establishing the Lodi dynasty the last of the 
Afghan or Pathan dynasties of Dehli. 

Both Buhlol Lodi and his son Sikandar were vigorous 
and prosperous rulers. The long reign of Buhlol (1450 
1488 A.D.) was mainly occupied with a war against the 
Sultans of Jaunpur, which lasted no less than twenty- six 
years, and resulted in the subjugation of that kingdom. Si- 
kandar* established his authority over Bihar and the whole of 
Northern India, with the exception of Bengal ; but theweak- 
ness and cruelty of his son, Ibrahim Lodi, again plunged 
the country into a state of anarchy, and brought about 
the fall of the Pathan empire. Babar, the great Chaghtai 
leader of the Mughuls and Turkis of Central Asia, sixth in 
descent from Timur, was invited into India by some of Ibra- 
him's discontented nobles ; in 1524 A.D. he obtained pos- 
session of Lahor ; and two years later, in 1526 A.D., fought 
the celebrated battle of Panipat [see note on page 18], in 
which Ibrahim lost his kingdom and his life. This battle, 
called the First Battle of Panipat, transferred the empire of 
Hindustan from the Pathansf to the Chaghtai (commonly 
called the Mughul~) Sultans. 

* Sikandar Lodi transferred the capital of Hindustan from Dehli to 
Agra ; and the latter city was the chief residence of the Sultans down to 
the time of Shah Jahan. 

t The Sultans of Dehli from Muhammad Ghori to Ibrahim Lodi are 
commonly called Pathdns or Afghans ; but most of them were really not 
Afghan but Turk! (see note on page 32) in their origin. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA* 49 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE RIVALS OF THE DEHLI EMPIEE. 

1. The Eahmani Kingdom and its offshoots in the Dakhin. 
2. The Hindu Kingdom of Vijayauagar. 3. Bengal. 4. Jaon- 
pur, Gujarat, and Malwah. 

1. The Bahmani Kingdom and its offslioots in the DaJchin. 
We have already noticed that during the weak rule of the 
later Pathan Sultans of Dehli, a number of other Muham- 
madan States arose in various parts of India and obtained 
independence. Of these the greatest was the Bahmani 
Kingdom of the Dakhin, founded by an Afghan general 
named Zafar Khan during the reign of Muhammad Tngh- 
lak. Zafar Khan defeated the generals sent against him by 
the Sultan of Dehli, and established himself at Kulbargah as 
independent Sultan of the Dakhin. He had formerly been 
the slave of a Brahman named Gango, who had treated 
him with great kindness, and had foretold his future great- 
ness; and in honour of his old master, he now took the 
title of Sultan Ala-ud-din Hasan Gango BaJimani, whence 
the dynasty founded by him is called the Bahmani dynasty. 
It consisted of no less than eighteen kings, who in turn 
ruled the Dakhin for more than one hundred and fifty years, 
from 1347 to 1526 A.D. In the very year in which the Pa- 
than dynasty was expelled from Dehli by the battle of 
Panipat, the last of the Bahmani kings ceased to reign in 
the Dakhin. Even before this date, however, several inde- 
pendent States had sprung up on the ruins of the Bahmani 
power ; and ultimately five great Dakhini kingdoms were 
formed, which were eventually subjugated by the Mughul 
Emperors of Dehli. These five dynasties were : 

(1). The Adil Shdhi dynasty of Bijapur, founded by 
Adil Shah in 1489. It had many wars both with the Mah- 





,*)0 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

rattas [*ee Chap. XVI.] and with the Mnghuls, and was 
finally subverted by Anrangzeb in 1686 A.D. 

(2). The Nizam SJidhi kingdom of Ahmadnagar. 
Chand Bibi defended this state against the armies of Akbar ; 
and Malik Ambar was one of its statesmen and heroes. It 
was destroyed by Shah Jahan in 1637 A.D. 

(3). The Kufb ShdM dynasty of Golkondah, on the 
eastern side of the Dakhin, subverted by Aurangzeb in 
1687 A.D. 

(4). The Imad ShdM kingdom of Bai'ar at Ilichpur, 
annexed by Ahmadnagar in 1574. 

(5). The B arid Shdhi dynasty of Bidar. 

2. Vijayanagar. The Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar 
in the Dakhin was founded like the Bahmani kingdom in 
the reign of Muhammad Tughlak about 1336 A.D. It was 
sometimes called the kingdom of Bijanagar or Narsingha, 
and occupied the territories now called the Madras Presi- 
dency ; and was finally destroyed by a combination of the 
Muhamraadan kings of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golkoudah, 
and Bidar, in the great battle of TALIKOT on the Krishna, 
A.D. 1565. The aged King of Vijayanagar, named Earn 
Rdjd, was slaughtered in cold blood by the allies, who 
behaved with great cruelty after the battle. The brother 
of Bam Raja afterwards established himself at Chan- 
dragiri, seventy miles north-west of Madras ; and in 1640 
A.D. made a grant to the English of the site of the city 
of Madras. 

3. Bengal. Shams-ud-din Ilyas, commonly called 
Haji Ilyas, successfully defended himself in the fort of 
Ekdalah near Panduah against Firuz Tughlak in 1353 A. D., 
and thus established his independence in Bengal. His dy- 
nasty lasted with some interruptions for more than a cen- 
tury. At one time a Hindu dynasty, founded by Raja 
Ganesa (called by Musalman writers Kans*), of Dinajpur, 
obtained power for a short time. 

At a later period, Bengal was ruled by a short-lived 
dynasty of Abyssinian slaves ; and the succession was 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 51 

much broken in the latter part of the fifteenth and the 
beginning of the sixteenth century. 

Sultan AUi-ud-din, a Sayyid, succeeded the Abyssinians 
in 1489. He gave an asylum to the unfortunate Husain 
Shah of Jaunpur, when the latter was defeated by Buhlol 
Lodi of Dehli ; but subsequently was compelled to make 
an alliance with Sikandar Lodi. Two of his sons reigned 
after him ; the last, Mahmud Shah, was expelled by Sher 
Shah in 1538 ; and though restored by Humayun, he died 
shortly afterwards. 

Members of the family of Sher Shah ruled in Bengal 
until 1564 ; when Sulaiman Shah, of the Kararani clan of 
Afghans, obtained the throne. He made peace with 
Akbar's general, Munim Khan. The subjugation of Sulai- 
man's son, Daiid, by Akbar and his generals, is narrated 
in Chapter XII. 

4. Jaunpur, G-ujardt, Malwah. The vazir of the 
Emperor Mahmud Tughlak [see Chapter X., 3J was 
appointed governor of Jaunpur in the province of Benares, 
with the title of MaliJc-us- Shark ; and in 1393 A.D. he 
asserted his independence, and founded a powerful king- 
dom, which lasted until its suppression by Buhlol Lodi in 
1474. The Court of the Sultans of Jaunpur was famou? 
for its splendour, and for the encouragement given to 
learned men there. 

The Muhammadan dynasties of Malwah and Gujarat 
likewise owed their existence to the feebleness of the later 
Tughlak kings of Dehli. The territories of the Malwah 
kingdom were annexed by Bahadur Shah, a great and 
famous king of Gujarat, in 1531. Bahadur was subse- 
quently killed by the Portuguese; and in 1571 A.D. 
Gujarat was conquered by Akbar, and added to the Muhgul 
dominions. 



52 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 



CHAPTER XII. 

BXBAR AND HUMAYtfN, THE FIRST MUGHDL EMPERORS, 
A.D. 152G 1556. 

1. Babar. 2. Humdyun. 3. Slier Sbak and the Siir 
Dynasty. 

1. Bdlar. It has already been noticed that Babar, as 
a descendant of the great Timur, belonged to the Chaghtai 
tribe, a tribe nearly akin to the Mughnls. Like his ancestor 
he \vrote an account of his own life, and these Memoirs are 
remarkable for their simplicity and absence of affectation. 
His early life in Central Asia was one of remarkably di- 
versified fortune. He was sometimes a captive, sometimes 
a victorious monarch ; and his undaunted bravery, patience 
in adversity, perseverance, and elasticity of mind are .truly 
admirable. The remarks that he used to make in his 
Memoirs, whenever he was successful, show that he deserved 
success : ' Not to me, oh God ! but to thee be the glory of 
the victory,' said the pious and chivalrous Babar, when he 
won the battle of Panipat as narrated in Chapter X. 

This great victory, indeed, only gave him possession of 
Dehli and Agra, the dominions of Ibrahim Lodi. Prince 
Humayun immediately marched eastward, and conquered 
the whole country as far as Jaunpur. In the following 
year, 1527, the Rajputs, under the famous Rana Sanga of 
Maiwar, made a determined attempt to expel the invaders 
from India, in the hope of once more setting up a Hindu 
empire. The Maharana was joined by his ally Madini 
Rai, to whom he had given the strong fortress of Chanderi, 
and by the Rajas of Marwar and Jaipur ; but he was totally 
routed by Babar in the decisive battle of FATHPUR SIKRI, 
and the storming of Chanderi early in 1528 firmly esta- 
blished the Mughul superiority. The brave Rajputs of 
Chanderi perished to a man in the desperate struggle ; and 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 53 



Genealogical Table of the House of Timur. 



The numbers in brackets show the succession of the Mugliul Emperors. 



TfMtJR. 

Sultan Muhammad Mi'rza. 
Sultan Abu Said Mi'rza. 

Umar Shaikh Mirza. 
, THE FIRST MUGHUL EMPEROR. (I.) 

HUMAYU.V. (II.) 

AKBAK. (III.) 
Prince Sali'm, afterwards called 

jAHANCfR. (IV.) 

Prince Khurram, afterwards called 
SHAH JAHAN. (V.) 

AURAXGZEB (ALAMGIR I.) (VI.) 

Prince Muazzam, afterwards called 
BAHAUUE SHAH (SnAu ALAM I.) (VII.) 



JAHANDAR SHAH. Azim-us-Shan. Raff-us-Shan. Muhammad 



(VIII.) 



FARRUKHSIYAR. (IX.) 



Akhtar. 



RAFf-Un-r>AUI,AH. RAFI-Un-DARAJAT. 

(XI.) (X.) 

ALAMGIR II. RAUSIIANAKHTAR 

(XIV.) MUHAMMAD SHAH. 

I (XII.) 

(All Gauhar) | 

SHAH ALAM II. AHMAD SHAH. 

(XV.) (XIII.) 



54 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

in the course of the same year Bihar and Bengal also sub- 
mitted to Babar's arms. 

Babar's death is remarkable. Hnmayun, his eldest son, 
was dangerously ill ; when Babar conceived the idea of 
offering his own life for his son's, according to a well-known 
Eastern custom. In the accomplishment of this loving 
resolve, he walked round the bed of the sick youth three 
times, praying solemnly to God that the disease might be 
transferred to himself. After this act, he exclaimed, in the 
full belief that his prayer was heard, ' I have borne it 
away.' And, strange to say, Humayun recovered from that 
hour ; while the father, whose health was already decaying, 
began rapidly to decline. With exhortations on his lips to 
his children and courtiers, that they should live in concord, 
he died December 26, 1530. 

Babar's character was disfigured by cruelty to enemies ; 
but he was marvellously brave, patient, and generous. 
His military skill was very great. Many stories are told 
to show his keen sense of justice and honour. On one 
occasion, when a rich caravan from China was lost in the 
snows on the mountains within his dominions, he ordered 
all the goods to be collected, and sent messengers to China 
to proclaim the accident and bring the owners to his Court 
to receive back their goods. They were at length found, 
and presented themselves before Babar after a lapse of two 
years, when he entertained them sumptuously, and scru- 
pulously gave them all the goods they had lost. 

'2. Humdi/un. Humayun succeeded, and reigned 
nominally for twenty-six years, from 1530 to 1556 A.D. ; but 
during nearly sixteen years of this period he was an exile 
in the Court of Shah Tahmasp of Persia, and the Afghan 
Slier Stir and his successors were Emperors of Hindustan. 
A war against Bahadur Shah, King of Gujarat [see Chap. 
XI., 4] is remarkable on account of a daring exploit per- 
formed by Humayun ; with only 300 followers he scaled 
the walls of Champanir, the strong fortress in which were 
deposited the treasures of Bahadur. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 55 

This war was followed by a fatal attempt to drive Slier 
Sur [see 3] from the throne of Bengal, which he had 
lately seized. The emperor took Gaur, the capital of 
Bengal ; but was subsequently treacherously surprised by 
Sher in the midst of some negotiations, and only escaped 
capture by leaping on his horse and plunging in the river 
Ganges. He was nearly drowned, when a waier- carrier 
rescued him, and brought him safely to the other bank, 
whence he escaped to Agra. By the aid of his brothers 
(who had formerly plotted against him, but now united to 
oppose Sher), he was able to raise another army ; but he 
was again totally defeated in a battle near KANAUJ, and was 
now compelled to fly to Persia, enduring many hardships 
in his flight. The Persian king Shah Tahmasp at first 
treated him ungenerously, trying to force him to become a 
Shiah, as the Persians were, though Humayun, like most 
Hindustani Muhammadans, was a Sunni. 

NOTE. The Shiah and Sunni are the two great sects into which the 
Muhammadans are divided. 

At length, however, he gave him some troops to aid him 
in regaining his dominions, and in 1556 Humayun again 
obtained possession of Dehli and Agra. 

3. Sher Shah and the Sur Dynasty. Sher Sur was 
a brave Afghan soldier, who had gradually by his skill and 
valour unhappily often disgraced by treachery acquired 
the sovereignty of Bengal [see Chap. XI., 3]. After the 
defeat of Humayun at the battle of Kanauj in 1540, he 
became Emperor of Hindustan, and for five years ruled 
wisely and benevolently. He is said to have made a road 
from Bengal to the banks of the Indus with a caravan- 
serai at every stage, and wells at intervals of a mile and a 
half. If his successors of the Sur dynasty had been as wise 
and brave as Sher, it is probable that Humayun and his 
Mughuls would never have been able to return to India. 
But the third monarch of the line, Muhammad Adil Shah, 
was a despicable tyrant ; and his successors, Ibrahim and 
Sikandar, were merely rebels against his authority, who 



56 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

were temporarily successful in establishing themselves afc 
Agra and Dehli. So Humayiin, on his return to India in. 
1556 with some Persian troops, was soon able, by the aid 
of his faithful general Bairam Khan [see Chap. XIII., 2] 
to drive Sikandar Sur away to the Himalaya Mountains, 
and to take possession of the two capitals. He died six 
months after re-entering Dehli, 1556 ; but the empire was 
still in a very unsettled state, for Sikandar was hovering 
about the slopes of the mountains with an army, whilst 
the brave and skilful vazir of Adil Shah, named Hemu, 
was on the borders of Bengal. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

AKBAB, THE GREATEST OF THE MUGHUL EMPERORS. 
A.D. 1556-1605. 

1. The early life of Akbar. 2. Bairam Khan. 3. Heinu 
and the second battle of Panipat. 4. The fall of Bairam. 5. Ak- 
bar's Conquests. 6. Akbar's dealings with the Kajpiits. 7. The 
Conquest of Bengal. 8. Chand Bibi of Ahmadnagar. 9. General 
remarks on Akbar's character and administration. 

1. The early life of Akbar. Akbar was the third Mughul 
Emperor, and under him the Mughuls overran and con- 
quered all Northern India, and a considerable portion of 
the Dakhin. 

Akbar was born at Amarkot in Sindh, whilst his father 
Humayiin was flying from. Sher Shah, in 1542 ; and when 
still an infant (in 1543) he fell into the hands of his uncle 
Kamran (who had obtained the government of Kandahar), 
and remained in his custody until 15i)5. Akbar's wet- 
nurse, who had the title of Ji Ji Anagah, with her husband 
Atgah Khan, had charge of the young child during these 
years ; and the affection which Akbar afterwards displayed, 
throughout their lives, to his foster-mother and foster- 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 



57 



INDIA 

IN THE TIME OF AKBAR 



THE MUGHUU EMPIRET. 
(divided into Subahs) Marked, Urns 




58 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

father, is well known. Many years afterwards Atgah Khan 
was slain in the royal palace by the dagger of a noble 
named Adham Khan ; when Akbar himself immediately 
ran to the spot, struck Adham Khan a blow in the face, 
which sent him spinning to the ground, and then had him 
thrown headlong from a pinnacle of the palace. The son 
of Ji Ji Anagah, called Mirza Aziz, was raised to the highest 
rank by Akbar ; and, with the title of Khan-i-Azam, was 
one of the greatest generals under Akbar and his suc- 
cessor. Aziz, who was a very bold man, often offended 
Akbar ; but the latter would never punish him, always 
saying ' between me and Aziz there is a river of milk, 
which I cannot cross.' 

When Humayun died, Akbar was only thirteen years 
and four months old ; and the young prince, with his guar- 
dian or atdliq, the great Bairam Khan, had to encounter 
the Afghan armies both of Adil Shah and of Sikandar. 

2. Bairam Khan. Bairam Khan was a Shiah of 
Turkish descent, and his name is one of the most distin- 
guished in Indian history. He had been the faithful com- 
panion of Humayun in his exile ; and whilst in Persia, had 
been made a Khan by Shah Tahmasp. An interesting 
story is told of the devotion to him of one of his folio wera 
named Abul Kasim, Governor of Gwaliar. Bairam was 
flying from Sher Shah ; and was on his way to Gujarat, 
when he was intercepted by one of Sher Shah's com- 
manders. Abul Kasim was with him ; and, being a man 
of imposing stature, was mistaken for Bairam. The latter 
immediately stepped forward, and said, ' I am Bairam.' 
' No,' said Abul Kasim, ' he is my attendant, and brave 
and faithful as he is, he wishes to sacrifice himself for me ; 
so let him off.' Abul Kasim was then killed, and Bairam 
escaped to the protection of the King of Gujarat, and 
thence to Persia. 

Humayun's restoration to the throne of Hindustan may 
justly be ascribed to the military skill and general abilities 
of Bairam. He won the battle of M&chhiwdrah, which was 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 59 

the first great blow to the Afghan power ; and just before 
Humayun's death, was appointed atdliq of Prince Akbar, 
and sent with him against Sikandar Sur. On Akbar's 
accession he received the title of Khan Baba, and acted 
as regent for the young king, and was the commander- 
in-chief in the operations against Hemu, and afterward^ 
against Sikandar. 

3. Hemu, and the Second Battle of Pdnipat. In the 
meantime Hemu boldly marched towards Dehli, and defeated 
one detachment of Akbar's troops under Tardi Beg. 
Bairam. caused this officer to be executed for his rashness 
in attacking Hemu, on account of which execution he in- 
curred the hatred of all the Chaghtai nobles, who were 
generally Sunnis ; for Tardi Beg was a Chaghtai Sunni, 
whilst Bairam (as we have said) was a Turki Shiah. 
The latter immediately prepared to attack Hemu ; and at 
length a great battle was fought on November 5, 1556, at 
Panipat, between the vanguard of Bairam's army under 
Khan Zamdn and the army of Adil Shah under Henm. 
Hemii was defeated, captured, and slain ; and this Second 
Battle of Pdnipat completely established the Mughul power ; 
for Sikandar shortly afterwards submitted to Akbar, and 
was pardoned. 

4. The fall of Bairam. The regency of Bairam, owing 
to his firmness in administration and his great military 
ability, was remarkably successful ; but he carried matters 
with a high hand as the atdliq of the young Emperor, and 
became very obnoxious to the Umards or grandees. Akbar 
himself was persuaded to assume the supreme power in his 
eighteenth year (1560 A.P.) At length Bairam, seeing his 
power gone, broke out into rebellion ; but was soon over- 
come, and threw himself on the mercy of Akbar, who 
treated him with the utmost generosity and affection. 
Bairam now set out to visit Mecca, the Muhammadan 
way of retiring from public life ; but was assassinated in 
Gujarat. 

5. Akbar's Conquests, The fall of Bairam left Akbar 



60 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

to govern alone. He proceeded to consolidate his power 
in India with the most wonderful courage, prudence, and 
ability; and before his death was absolute master of all 
Hindustan (including Kashmir and Kandahar) and part of 
the Dakhin, and was one of the most powerful and famous 
monarchs of that age. 

He first had to contend with a rebellion of his own 
nobles, Khan Zaman, the victor of Panipat, being the chief 
rebel. When this rebellion was put down, he subdued in 
succession the Rajputs of Chitor or Maiwar, Gujarat, Bihar, 
Bengal, Orissa, Kashmir, Sindh, Kandahar ; also Ahmad- 
nagar, Khandesh, and part of Barar. Akbar's invariable 
policy was to deal mercifully and even generously with the 
conquered, generally making any conquered prince a grandee 
(or Umara) of his court and an officer of his army ; and in 
this way he obtained the gratitude and affection of a large 
number of Indian princes, especially amongst the Rajputs 
of Jaipur and Jodhpur. It would be tedious if we attempted 
to narrate the history of all these extensive conquests ; it 
will be sufficient if we give a brief account of (1) Akbar's 
dealings with the Rajputs, (2) his conquest of Bengal, and 
(3) his wars with Chdnd Bibi t the famous queen of Ahmad- 
nagar, in the Dakhin. 

6. Akbar's dealings with tJie Rajputs. The Raja of 
Jaipur (Amber) was Bihari Mall. Akbar eventually 
married his daughter ; and Salim (Jahdngir), his eldest 
son, was married to another princess of the same family. 
This Raja was the first who formed such an alliance. 
Raja Bihari's son, Raja Bhagavan Das, Akbar's brother-in- 
law, was one of the most distinguished courtiers in this 
reign ; and was appointed Amir-ul-Umara, and governor of 
the Panjab. Bhagavan' s son, Raja Man Singh, was one of 
Akbar's best generals ; and as a commander of seven thou- 
sand, was of higher rank than any Muhaminadan officer. 
He did good service in the Panjab and Kabul ; and, as 
governor of Bengal, settled the affairs of that province, an, having for forty-two years been 



88 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

one of the bravest and most indomitable spirits amongst the 
Mahrattas ; and as his only son had died before him, and 
his only grandson died very soon afterwards, the son's 
widow succeeded as Maharanf, and remained so until her 
death in 1795. She was one of the most extraordinary 
women that ever lived. She adopted, by consent of the 
Peshwa, an experienced soldier called Tukaji ffolkdr, who 
was no relation to the family. He assumed command of 
the army, and one of his descendants still rules in Indor, 
Takaji always paid to Ahalya Bai filial reverence. She 
ruled, while he was commander-in-chief. She was devout, 
merciful, and laborious to an extraordinary degree ; and 
raised Indor from a village to a wealthy city. She was 
well educated, and possessed of a remarkably acute mind. 
She became a widow when she was twenty years old, and 
her son died a raving maniac, soon after. These things 
affected her whole life. In one thing she far excelled even 
the renowned English Queen Elizabeth : she was insensible 
to flattery. While living, she was ' one of the purest 
and most exemplary rulers that ever lived ; ' and she is 
now worshipped in Malwah as an incarnation of the deity. 

7. Nardyana Rao, Fifth Peshwa. Madu Rao, dying 
at an early age in 1772, was succeeded by his younger 
brother named Nardyana Bdo ; but this unfortunate youth 
was assassinated by some conspirators who were incited to 
do the wicked deed by Ananda Bai, the wicked wife of 
Raghoba, the Peshwa's uncle and guardian. Meanwhile 
the Mahratta arms had once more overrun Hindustan, 
occupied Dehli, and got the Emperor Shah Alam H. com- 
pletely into their power. One of the chief ministers of the 
Peshwa's Court at this time was the famous Ndnd Farnavis, 
a clever statesman. 

After the murder of Nardyana Rao, Raghoba declared 
himself sixth Peshwa; but his hopes were frustrated by 
the birth of a posthumous son* of Narayana, and by the 

* &. posthumous son js one born after the death of his father. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 89 

combination against him of Nan a Farnavis and all the 
other great Mahratta leaders, 1774. 

8. Mddu Bdo Ndrdyana, sixth PesJnvd ; and the First 
Mahratta War. Madu Rao Narayana was the posthumous 
son of Narayana Rao ; but Raghoba professed to think 
him an impostor, and induced the English to favour his 
own claims to the dignity of Peshwa. The English 
Government, which was now under Warren Hastings [see 
Chap. XXII.], at first refused to help Raghoba; but find- 
ing that his opponent Nana Farnavis was intriguing with 
the French, they at length consented to do so, and the 
fighting that ensued is called the First Mahratta War. 
This war was undertaken by the English at a time very 
unfortunate for them ; for they were immediately attacked 
by Haidar Ali, Sultan of Mysore, and by the Nizam, as 
well as by Sindia and the other Mahrattas. 

The most important events of the war were 

(1). The famous march of Colonel Goddard and a small 
body of English troops from Calcutta, right across India, 
to Surat, in 1779 ; after which he drove away the combined 
forces of Sindia and Holkar, and subsequently took the town 
of Bassein by storm. 

(2). The disgraceful Convention of Wargdm, a treaty by 
which a small Bombay army purchased its escape from the 
Mahratta forces by which it was surrounded, 1779. 

The First Mahratta War was concluded by the Treaty 
of Salbdi, of which the chief stipulations were, that the 
French and other Europeans (except the Portuguese) 
should be excluded from the Mahratta dominions, and that 
Haidar Ali should be compelled to give up some territoiy 
he had conquered from the English, whilst the English 
agreed to acknowledge the infant Madu Narayana as 
Peshwa, on condition that Raghoba should be given a pen- 
sion by the Mahrattas and allowed to live where he pleased, 
1782. 

9. The Battle of Kurdld. The chief incidents of the 
long minority of Madu Rao Narayana were connected with 



90 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

the great increase of the power of Maliddaji Sindia, who 
was supreme at Dehli, and gradually became the most 
powerful of the Mahratta princes, and quite independent of 
the Peshwa. After his death in 1794, Ndnd Farnavis (the 
minister of the Peshwa) was the chief ruler of the Mah- 
rattas, and he soon began to quarrel with the Nizam of 
Haidarabad, because the latter had not regularly paid up 
the tribute which had been agreed upon after the battle 
of Udgir. 

War was begun in December 1794. Under the Peshwa' s 
banner, for the last time, came all the great Mahratta 
chiefs. 

At Kurdla (March 1795) a victory was obtained Dy the 
Mahrattas, more the result of a panic among the Mnghula 
than of Mahratta bravery. But Nizam All was obliged to 
treat. An obnoxious minister, Maasir-ul-mulk, who had 
resisted the Mahratta claims, was surrendered. The young 
Peshwa was seen to look sad ; and when asked the cause by 
the Nana, he replied, ' I grieve to see such a degeneracy as 
there must be, on both sides, when the Mughnls can so dis- 
gracefully submit to, and our troops can vaunt so much, a 
victory obtained without an effort.' The yonug Peshwa 
was just twenty-one years of age. 

Shortly after this fortunate battle he committed suicide, 
1795, in a fit of ill-temper, because he was not allowed to see 
his cousin Baji Rao, the son of Raghoba, with whom he 
had contracted a great friendship. 

10. Baji Rao J/., the last of the Peshwds, and the Second 
Mahratta War. Baji Rdo became Peshwa after many in- 
trigues. Jeswant Rao Holkar, son of Takaji Holkar [see 
6], succeeded in the same year to the throne of Indor, and 
after long wars against Daulat Rao Sindia and the Peshwa, 
at last pressed the latter so hard that he was obliged to fly 
to the English for help. In 1802, Baji Rao signed the cele- 
brated Treaty of Bassein, which was the commencement of 
the Second Mahratta War, by which he agreed (1) to re- 
ceive an English force quartered in his dominions for their 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 91 

protection, and to pay twenty- six lakhs for i*s maintenance 
annually ; (2), to receive no European of any hostile nation 
into his dominions ; (3), to give up all claims to Siirat, and 
to leave his disputes with the Nizam and the Gaikwar to 
British mediation ; (4), to remain the faithful ally of Eng- 
land. Full protection to him and to his territories was 
guaranteed by the British. 

On the outbreak of the Second Mahratta War, the 
great Lord Wellesley was Governor- General of India; and 
under him were two famous generals his brother, General 
Wellesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington, England's 
greatest soldier), and Lord Lake. Their chief opponents 
were Daulat Rdo Sindia and Raghuji Bhonsle, of Barar. 

The first great battle fought by General Wellesley was 
at Assai, on the borders of Barar and Khandesh (1803). 
Both Sindia and Raghuji Bhonsle fled from the field, and the 
English gained a complete victory, though at the cost of 
one-third of General Wellesley's army. 

Multitudes of towns and fortresses were captured by the 
English during the course of the war, but we need only 
mention two great battles, those of Dehli and Ldswdri, won 
by Lord Lake. At the battle of Dehli, a French general, 
named Bourquin, was the commander of Sindia' s army ; he 
was utterly routed by Lord Lake, who now entered Dehli, 
and took under his protection the Emperor Shah Alam, 
who had long been in the power of the Mahrattas (see 
Chap. XV., 6], This was in September 1803 ; in No- 
vember of the same year, Lord Lake gained a decisive vic- 
tory at Laswari over all the remaining Mahratta forces ; and 
before the end of the year, both Sindia and the Raja of 
Barar had submitted to the British arms, and had ceded a 
large part of their territories, 

11. The Third Mahratta War. In the following year, 
1804, a war broke out with the Mahrattas under Jeswant 
Rdo Holkdr, who had taken no part in the former war. In 
this, as in the former war, a large number of fortresses were 
captured by the British troops, though they experienced a 



92 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

check in attempting to storm the great fortress of Bhartjpur 
[see Chapter XXVII.] The Raja of Bbartpur, however, 
was forced to give np Holkar's alliance, and to pay 20 lakhs 
to the English, and in 1805 Holkar himself was driven away 
into the Panjab, when a peace was made. The most famous 
battle of this war was that of Dig, fought in 1804, between 
the English, under General Fraser and Colonel Monson, and 
Holkar's troops. The gallant General Fraser was killed, 
but the English won a complete victory, and captured no 
less than 87 cannon. 

12. Causes of the downfall of the Mahratta Power. 
All the great Mahratta leaders had now submitted to the 
British arms ; the remainder of their history will be briefly 
given in the later chapters on the Governors- General of 
British India. The causes of the downfall of the Mah- 
rattas were many. First, excessive aggrandisement of Ma- 
hadaji Sindia, making him independent of the Peshwa, and, 
in fact, a rival to him. Secondly, the dissensions conse- 
quent on the death of "Narayana Rao, the quarrels and 
rivalries of Raghoba, Nana Farnavis, Baji Rao II., Jeswant 
Rao Holkar, and Daulat Rao Sindia, completely disinte- 
grated the confederation. Thirdly, the confederation had 
within itself elements of disunion and consequent weakness. 
The Peshwa and his councillors were Brahmans ; Sindia, 
Holkar, and Raghuji Bhonsle were of lower castes. Fourthly, 
Shah Alam II. was now in the power of the British. 
Under the shadow of the new paramount power, the corrup- 
tion and disorder which favoured the rise of the Mahrattaa 
cannot exist. 



THE HISTORY OF IKDIA. 93 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

EARLY EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN INDIA. 

1. Discovery of the Sea-route from Europe to India by the Por- 
tuguese. 2. Albuquerque, the great Portuguese Viceroy of India. 
3. Extent of the Portuguese Possessions. 4. The Dutch in India. 
5. Early English Expeditions to India. 6. Progress of the English 
Settlements. 7. The English in Bengal. 8. Early French Settle- 
ments in India. 

1. Discovery of the Sea-route from Europe to India by the 
Portuguese. The European nations that have at various 
times made permanent settlement in India are the Portu- 
guese, the Dutch, the Danes, the English, and the French. 
Of these, the Portuguese and the French have played an 
important part in its history, as well as the English, who 
ultimately became the paramount power in India. All these 
settlements were at first made only for purposes of trade, 
though the Portuguese very soon began to entertain the 
idea of founding an Indian empire. 

During the middle ages, European intercourse with 
India was mainly carried on by the enterprise of the mari- 
time nations inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean, 
and latterly chiefly by the Venetians and Genoese, who 
traded with the ports of Syria and Egypt, whither Indian 
produce was brought through Persia or by the Red Sea. 
But during the fifteenth century the Portuguese became 
great navigators. In 1498, a great Portuguese mariner, 
named Vasco da Gama, discovered a sea-route to India 
around the coast of Africa, and this put the whole trade 
between Europe and the East into the hands of the Portu- 
guese, who retained it for a long time. Vasco da Gama 
landed in the territories of a petty chief, named the Zamorin 
of Calicat, a place on the coast between Goa and Cochin, 
and the Portuguese settlements were at first made on this 
west coast, though not without opposition from the native 
Rajas. 



94 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

2. Albuquerque, the great Portuguese Viceroy of India. 
At length the Portuguese settlements became numerous, 
and the King of Portugal thought it best to appoint a 
Viceroy of India to govern these settlements and carry on 
the wars against the native kings. The second of these 
Portuguese viceroys was the great Albuquerque, who landed 
in 1508 ; and who, after having taken Goa (which still be* 
longs to the Portuguese) and a great many other places, 
was in his old age dismissed from his office by the ungrate- 
ful King of Portugal, ya. 1515. 

3. Extent of the Portuguese Possessions. The Portu- 
guese empire in the East attained its highest power and its 
greatest prosperity under Albuquerque, whom his country, 
men, though ungrateful to him in his lifetime, have unani- 
mously styled ' the Great.' A few towns and factories were 
added to it during the seventy years that followed his death, 
but these additions were unimportant. The student must, 
however, remember that this empire was almost wholly a 
maritime one. The Portuguese fleets were masters of the 
Indian Seas, and they possessed many valuable seaports, 
at which they carried on an extensive trade, and which were 
guarded by their ships of war. These ports were scattered 
over an immense extent of coast, from the eastern coasts of 
Africa and the island of Ormuz on the west, to the Malay 
Peninsula and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago on 
the east. At the end of the sixteenth century, when their 
power began to decline, their most important possessions 
were : Goa and some minor ports on the west coast of India, 
Ceylon, and Malacca, in the Malay Peninsula. Besides 
these they had important settlements in Bengal, of which 
the chief were Hugli and Chittagong, with Diu, in Gujarat, 
and many other places of less importance. But they never 
possessed more than a few miles of territory, even in the 
neighbourhood of their greatest cities, and their power was 
usually confined strictly to the limits of their factory or 
trading settlement. 

4. The Dutch in India. Towards the end of the 
sixteenth century, the enterprising navigators of Hottand 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 95 

determined to try to take into their own hands some of the 
Indian commerce hitherto monopolised by the Portuguese ; 
and during the following fifty years they gradually suc- 
ceeded in driving the latter out of many of their settlements, 
and in taking from them the maritime supremacy which 
they had possessed on the coast of India. Chinsurah in 
Bengal was the capital of the Dutch settlements. But 
they soon had to meet more powerful rivals than the Por- 
tuguese ; for the English had already commenced to settle 
in India. 

5. Early English Expeditions to India. The first at- 
tempts of the English to reach India, like those of the 
Dutch, were by the north-east passage through the Arctic 
Seas, and the corresponding north-west passage along the 
northern shores of North America ; and many expeditions 
were sent, and many lives and much treasure lost, in these 
fruitless expeditions. 

The first English expedition that sailed for India by the 
direct route round the Cape of Good Hope started in 1591 
under Lancaster and some others ; but it degenerated into 
a piratical cruise, and ended disastrously, all the ships 
being lost or deserted successively. Notwithstanding this 
ill success, the British EAST INDIA COMPANY was incor- 
porated by Queen Elizabeth in 1600. [It may here be 
noted that a second Company was set on foot in 1698 ; and 
the old and the new Companies were amalgamated in 
1708.] Its first expedition was in 1601, again under the 
command of Lancaster, and was eminently successful ; and 
was quickly followed by others. 

6. Progress of the English Settlements. Jahangir in 
1613 gave permission to the English to establish four 
factories in the Mughul dominions. The trade of the Eng- 
lish was established on a more secure footing by the great 
embassy of Sir Thomas Roe [see Chap. XIV., 3] ; and 
Surat was long their chief factory. 

In 1638 an English surgeon named Boughton, resident 
in Surat, was sent for by the Emperor Shah Jahan to 
attend his sick daughter. He succeeded in curing her, and 



96 AN EAST INTRODUCTION 10 

obtained from the grateful Emperor important commercial 
privileges. By similar success in his profession, he ob- 
tained similar concessions from the Viceroy of Bengal ; and 
in 1656 the English erected a fortress at Hvigli. In 1640 
they obtained the site of Madras from a brother of Bam 
Raja of Bijanagar [see Chap. IV., 18]. It was fortified 
by order of King Charles L, and called Fort St. George ; 
and in 1653 made the seat of a presidency on the Coro- 
inandel coast. Bombay was a part of the dowry of 
Catherine of Braganza, Queen of Charles II. ; and in 1668 
that king made it over to the East India Company, who 
now removed thither the presidency of the western coast, 
formerly at Surat. 

As early as 1611 the English had traded with Masuli- 
patam ; and in 1624 they obtained permission to build a 
factory at Pipli near Balasor. In 1656 they built a factory 
at Hugli. But in 1686, owing mainly to their violence, 
they were expelled from this place, as well as from Kasim- 
bazar and Patna, and from Surat and most of their pc-sses" 
sions (except Bombay) on the west coast, by orders of 
Aurangzeb. In 1696 the villages of Chuttanatti, Calcutta, 
and Govindpur were purchased from their owner by per- 
mission of Prince Azim-us-Shan, grandson of Aurangzeb. 
A fort was ordered to be built, and called Fort William in 
honour of King William III. The history of Calcutta to 
1756 is little else than a record of the efforts of the British 
merchants to resist the exactions of the Nawab of Mur- 
shidabad. In 1716 a deputation was sent to the Emperor 
Farrukh Siyar to secure a greater degree of protection 
from the native powers. They were successful, and Cal- 
cutta was thereupon declared a separate presidency. The 
term Presidency ,o& applied to Surat (afterwards to Bombay), 
to Madras, and to Calcutta, originally meant that the 
chief of each of these factories respectively was supreme 
also over the subordinate factories in that part of India. 
In 1742 theMahrattas attacked Bengal, demanding Chauth. 
It was then the Mahratta ditch was dug around Calcutta, 
to afford protection against a repetition of the attack, 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 97 

8. Early French Settlements in India. The first ex- 
pedition sent to India by the French was in 1604 ; but 
subsequently a French East India Company was formed, 
and in 1G74 the French governor, Martin (the real founder 
of French power in India) bought Pondicherry, on the 
south-east coast, from the king of Bijapur. The Dutch at 
one time bribed the Mughul generals of the Emperor 
Aurangzeb to help them to take Pondicherry from the 
French ; but it was afterwards restored, and Martin 
greatly enlarged and fortified it, and made it a great com- 
mercial city. In 1688 the French obtaiued from the 
Emperor Aurangzeb the Settlement of Chandernagar on 
the Hugli, above Calcutta ; and subsequently they acquired 
several other possessions. 

In 1741 the great French statesman, Dupleix, who had 
been for ten years Governor of Chandernagar, was appointed 
Governor of Pondicherry and Governor- General of the 
French possessions in India. He immediately formed the 
plan of expelling the English from India, and of establish- 
ing a French empire here ; and an opportunity shortly 
offered itself of making the attempt, for a war broke out 
between the English and the French in Europe, which 
lasted from 1740 to 1748. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE WARS OF THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH IN THE CARNATIC. 

1. The commencement of the Struggle. 2. Temporary Success 
of Dupleix. 3. Clive, and the Defence of Arcot. 4. The Battle 
Df Wandewash, and final ruin of the French Cause. 

1. The commencement of the Struggle. The struggle 
between the English and the French in India was mainly 
carried on in the Carnatic [see Chap. I., 3], and lasted 
from about 1746 to the final capture of Pondicherry by 
the English in 1761. It commenced unfavourably for the 

H 



98 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

English ; for the French under Dupl&ix and another great 
French general called Labourdonnais took the town, of 
Madras, which was the chief seat of the English in those 
parts, in the year 1746. 

The old Nizam-ul-mulk, of whom we have already 
spoken several times [see Chap. XV., 3 ; and XVII., 2], 
though nominally only Mughul Siibahdar of the Dakhin, 
had long been independent at Haidarabad. The Carnatic 
had also attained independence under its Nawab ; but the 
first independent Nawab, Dost Ali, had been defeated and 
slain by the Mahrattas, and his son-in-law, Chanda Saheb, 
imprisoned, and in 1743 an officer of the Nizam, named 
Anwar-ud-din, had been appointed Nawab of the Carnatic. 
Shortly after the capture of Madras, Anwar-ud-din 
demanded that the town should be given up to him by the 
French, but Dupleix objected ; and when the Nawab sent 
his son with an army of 10,000 men to enforce this claim, 
Dupleix ordered one of his best officers, a brave and skilful 
general, named Paradis, to resist them. Paradis had tinder 
him only 230 Europeans and 700 sepoys, yet with this 
small force he utterly routed the Nawab's army. This 
battle had very important indirect results ; for it proved, 
both to the European leaders and to the native chiefs, that 
native Indian troops are little better than useless against 
Europeans, even when they have immense odds on their side. 
Paradis was now made Governor of Madras; but a 
strong fleet soon arrived to help the English, and they 
were able, not only to drive the French out of Madras, but 
also to besiege them in Pondicherry. Then, in 1748, came 
a short peace, and all things returned to the condition in 
which they had been before the war. 

2. Temporary Success of Dupleix. In 1748, the old 
Nizam-ul-mulk died, and there was immediately a contest 
for the throne of Haidarabad between two of his sons, 
Muzaffar Jang, the eldest, and Ndsir Jang, the second son. 
Muzaflar, on finding himself ousted by his younger bro- 
ther, went to Satara to implore the aid of the Mahrattas : 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 99 

and whilst at Satara he formed a romantic friendship with 
Chandd Saheb, who was in prison there, and who claimed 
to be the rightful Nawab of the Carnatic as son-in-law of 
Dost AH. The French took up the canse both of Muzaf- 
far Jang and of Chanda Saheb; and Dupleix ransomed 
the latter from the Mahrattas, and immediately took the 
field with the united forces of Muzaffar, of Chanda, and 
of the French. They defeated and slew Anwar-ud-din 
and his eldest son at the great battle of Ambur, in which 
the famous Bussy was the general of the French. Muzaf- 
far Jang was now for a short time Subahdar of the 
Dakhin, and Chanda Saheb was Nawab of the Carnatic ; 
but their triumph was not for long. The younger son of 
Anwar-ud-din was Muhammad Ali, afterwards Nawab of 
the Carnatic, and henceforward a prominent actor in this 
war ; and he now implored the aid of the English. There 
was thus a triple alliance on each side : the English 
siding with ISTasir Jang and Muhammad Ali, against the 
French, who sided with Muzaffar Jang and Chanda Saheb. 

The war was carried on with continual changes of for- 
tune. Nasir Jang and Muzaffar Jang having each .in turn 
secured the Subahdarship of the Dakhin, were each in 
turn assassinated. At last the French set up Salabat Jang, 
a younger son of the old Nizam- ul-mulk, and therefore 
brother of both Muzaffar and Nasir ; and by the aid of the 
intrepid French commander Bussy, Salabat managed to 
establish himself at Aurangabad as Subahdar of the Dakhin, 
and to set up Chanda Saheb as Nawab of the Carnatic, 
1751 A.D. 

In the course of this struggle the French troops had 
greatly distinguished themselves under Bussy, who had 
stormed the fortress of Grinji, the strongest place in the 
Carnatic, within twenty-four hours, 1750 A.D. 

The French governor Dupleix and his brave general 
Bussy were now triumphant. Dupleix set up ' a pillar of 
victory ' on the spot where he had defeated the forces of 
Nasir Jang, and ordered a town to be built there, called 

u2 



100 AK EASY IKTKObUCTlON (TO 

Dupleix-fath-abad. The cause of the English seemed 
almost desperate. 

3. Clive, and the Defence of Arcot. When the affairs 
of the English were in this miserable condition, a brave 
and skilful young Englishman appeared on the scene, 
whose genius completely retrieved their fortunes. 

Clive, the son of a gentleman of small property in 
Shropshire, was born in 1725, and landed in India as a 
civilian in 1743. His active and violent disposition made 
him unfitted for the civil service, which at that time was 
still chiefly engaged in commercial operations ; and conse- 
quently, on the breaking out of war with the French, he 
had obtained a commission in the army as an ensign. He 
distinguished himself at the first siege of Poadicherry, and 
at the taking of Devikottah, in 1748 ; and now his courage 
and skill rescued the English cause from almost certain 
ruin. Mr. Saunders was governor of Madras ; and Clive 
went to him, and begged to be allowed to relieve Trichi- 
napalli by carrying the war into the enemy's own country. 
He determined to seize Arcot itself, the capital of the 
Nawab Chanda Saheb ; and having effected this with only 
200 Europeans, 300 sepoys, and a few light guns, he pre- 
pared to defend the fortress against the overwhelming forces 
sent against him from Chanda Saheb's army that was be- 
sieging Trichinapalli, 1751. With his little band of heroes 
reduced to 320 men and four officers, he made good his 
position for seven weeks against 10,000 men headed by 
Raja Saheb, the son of Chanda Saheb. The people seeing 
Clive and his men march steadily in a storm of thunder 
and lightning, said they were fireproof, and fled before him. 
The hero contemptuously refused Raja Saheb's bribes, and 
laughed at his threats. When provisions failed in the 
besieged town, the sepoys came with a request that they 
might cook the rice, retaining for themselves only the 
water it was boiled in, handing over every grain of it to 
the Europeans, who required, they said, more solid food 
such self-denial and heroic zeal had Clive's influence 
inspired in these men ! Morari Rao, the Mahratta chief 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 101 

of Gutti, and his 6,000 men, who were not far from 
Ambur, waiting to see the course of events, joined Clive, say- 
ing, ' since the English can so nobly help themselves, we 
will help them.' Mr. Sannders exerted himself energeti- 
cally to aid the gallant garrison ; and after a desperate 
assault, in which he lost 400 men, Raja Saheb raised the 
siege. The moral effect of this memorable defence was 
incalculable, in firmly establishing the prestige of the 
English. 

Clive now gained victory after victory ; and in March 
1752 he demolished the town of Dupleix-fath-abad and the 
pillar of Dupleix, as a sign that he had demolished the 
French power in India. 

After many struggles, Chanda Saheb was slain, and the 
French army with 41 guns surrendered to the English at 
Srirangam, near Trichinapalli, in June 1752 ; and at length 
the brave and gallant Dupleix was recalled in disgrace by 
the ungi-atefnl French Government, in 1754 ; he died in 
Paris ten years after, a ruined and broken-hearted man. 

4. The Battle of Wandewasli, and final Ruin of the 
French Cause. Although the French general Bussy was 
still all-powerful at Aurangabad with the Subahdar Salabat 
Jang, yet the new French governor made very large con- 
cessions to the English, and a peace was patched up ; 
Muhammad All, the ally of the English, being acknowledged 
as Nawab of the Carnatic. The peace, however, only 
lasted until 1757, and then commenced the final struggle. 
Clive had been appointed Governor of Madras, but had 
been almost immediately called off to Bengal, to exact 
terrible retribution for the atrocities of the Black Hole. 
Count LALLY was sent out early in 1757 by the French 
Government to fight the English in the Carnatic, and was 
so far successful, that at the end of 1758 he laid siege to 
Madras, but was subsequently compelled to retreat to 
Pondicherry. 

At length, in 1759, English reinforcements arrived 
under Colonel Eyre Coote, who was the hero of this cam- 
paign. Lally and Bussy, with the whole French army, 



102 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

attacked the town of Wandewash (Wandwas), and Coote 
instantly marched against them to relieve it. In the 
Battle of WANDEWASH the French were totally routed, the 
heroic Bussy was taken prisoner, and all hope of establish, 
ing a French empire in India was destroyed. 

In a very short time all the towns held by the French, 
or subject to their influence, were successively taken by 
Coote ; and in January 1 761 Pondicherry itself surren- 
dered, and Lally was sent as a prisoner of war to Madras. 
He was subsequently beheaded in Paris in 1766. The 
French East India Company ceased to exist in 1769 



CHAPTER XX. 

CLIVE, AND THE BATTLE OF PLA88KY. 

* 

1. The Independent Nawabs of Bengal. 2. The Massacre 01 
the Black Hole. 3. The Conquest of Bengal by Olive. 

1. Tlie Independent Nawabs of Bengal. Whilst the two 
most powerful nations of Europe, the English and the 
French, had been fighting in the Carnatic for the supremacy 
of the Dakhin, the skill and bravery of the great Clive had 
in the meantime obtained for the English an ascendency in 
Bengal which very soon made them the paramount lords 
of Hindustan. The conquest of Bengal was not, however, 
thought of by them until a dreadful outrage perpetrated 
on them by the wicked Nawab made it necessary to inflict 
on him a terrible punishment by depriving him of his 
kingdom. I shall now give some account of how this came 
about. 

I have already noticed that under the weak rule of the 
twelfth Mughul Emperor, named Muhammad Shdh, the 
great Subahs or provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa 
became virtually independent under the powerful Nawab 
Alt Virdi KJidn [see Chap. XV., 3]. A great part of Ali 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 103 

Virdi's reign was occupied with wars against the Mahrattas, 
who continually invaded and devastated his dominions ; and 
at last, in order to obtain peace for Bengal, he was obliged 
to give up to the Mahratta Raja of Barar nearly the whole 
of Orissa. 

[NOTE. The whole of Orissa south of Balasor remained in the 
hands of the Mahrattas uptil conquered by the English in the Second 
Mahratta War in 1803.] 

Ali Virdi, though he has been styled usurper, on the 
whole ruled wisely and well. His subjects, both Hindu 
and Muhanunadan, increased considerably in wealth and 
prosperity. He exacted large sums from the English 
merchants who were settled at Calcutta, and was very 
anxious to prevent their obtaining any political power in 
the country ; but he did his best to protect them, and to 
encourage their trade, so they gladly paid all his demands. 

In 1756, Ali Virdi Khan died, and was succeeded by his 
grandson Siraj-ud-daulah, a monster of cruelty and lust. 
He oppressed his Hindu subjects in the most atrocious 
manner ; degrading the noblest families of Bengal by his 
licentiousness, impoverishing them by his extortions, and 
terrifying them by his inhuman oppressions. 

2. The Massacre of the Black Hole. Amongst many 
other acts of wickedness, he endeavoured to get possession 
of all the wealth of the rich Hindu governor of Dacca, 
who was called Rajballabh ; and when Rajballabh's son 
Krishna Das fled to Calcutta with some of his father's 
treasures, the Nawab ordered the English to surrender 
him. The English governor refused to give up an inno- 
cent refugee, and at the same time refused to obey the 
Nawab's order to demolish the fortifications of Calcutta ; 
so Siraj-ud-daulah immediately seized and plundered the 
factory of the East India Company at Kasimbazar, near 
his capital Murshidabad, and imprisoned all the English 
officers whom he found there. He then marched on 
Calcutta, where he found the English altogether unpre- 
pared for such an attack. They tried in vain to con- 



104 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

ciliate him, but he was inexorable ; and after a slight check 
at the Mahratta Ditch, his artillery began to bombard 
the fragile defences of the English, who were soon driven 
within the walls of the fort. They now (June 18, 
1756) held some hurried and disorderly councils ; the 
women and children were sent on board one of the 
vessels in the river under the charge of two high officials ; 
and at nightfall the governor lost courage and went off to 
the ships in the last boat. The ships now weighed anchor 
and dropped down the river to Faltah, leaving the unfor- 
tunate soldiers and officers of the garrison to their 
fate. 

The latter elected Mr. Holwell as their leader, who the 
following morning felt himself compelled to negotiate ; and 
in the afternoon the Nawab's army marched in. The 
Nawab summoned Mr. Holwell to his presence, accused 
him of rebellion and of having concealed the treasures of 
the English factory, but promised him that no harm should 
happen to the prisoners. Notwithstanding this, the whole 
garrison, consisting of 146 men, were crammed into a small 
dungeon eighteen feet square, with very small apertures 
for light and air. This miserable dungeon, ever since 
infamous in history under the name of THE BLACK HOLE, 
had been used as a place of punishment for single indivi- 
duals ; and the torments now endured by the unhappy 
prisoners, during a night of the hottest season of the year, 
were more terrible than anything that has ever been de- 
scribed. They endeavoured by alternate threats and bribes 
to induce their jailers either to put an end to their tortures 
by death, or to obtain better quarters from the Nawab ; but 
the miscreant Siraj was asleep, and the guards were (or 
pretended to be) afraid to awake him. At first the struggles 
of the victims for the places near the windows, and for the 
few skins of water that were handed in to them, were 
terrific; but the ravings of madness gradually subsided 
into the moans of exhaustion ; and in the morning, only 
twenty-tljree wretched figures, almost in the pangs of 



THE HISTORY OP INDIA. 105 

death, wore extricated from a pestilential mass of dead 
bodies. It is uncertain whether the Nawab was really 
an active accomplice in this wholesale murder ; but in his 
anxiety to discover the treasures which he supposed the 
English' had concealed, he took no pains to prevent it, and 
he evidently felt no subsequent remorse about it. He was 
morally responsible for it, and a terrible vengeance was 
justly inflicted on him. 

3. The Conquest of Bengal &?/ Clive. The news of these 
disasters in Bengal soon arrived in Madras, and filled the 
settlement with consternation. But Colonel Clive and 
Admiral Watson were now at Madras. They were soon 
ready to sail to avenge the massacre in Bengal, with 900 
English troops and 1,500 sepoys, all full of enthusiasm for 
the cause and of confidence in their leaders. Various 
delays, however, occurred ; and they did not arrive in the 
river Hugli till December 1756. And now commenced 
in earnest the work of retribution ; Budge-budge was 
soon taken, Calcutta occupied, and the town of Hugli 
stormed. 

The tyrant Nawab knew something of the wars in the 
Carnatic, and had a lively dread of the defender of Arcot : 
hence, after the recapture of Calcutta by Clive on January 2, 
1757, he made pressing overtures for peace, offering to 
reinstate the English in their former position. The honest 
old Admiral Watson disapproved of any accommodation 
with the author of the Black Hole massacre, saying that 
the Nawab should be ' well thrashed ; ' but Clive from 
political motives agreed to sign the treaty, February 9, 1757. 
Clive now seized the opportunity to humble the French in 
Bengal. Notwithstanding the opposition of the Nawab, 
who aided the French with men and money, he attacked 
Chanderuagar, and with the aid of Admiral Watson and 
the fleet, he captured the town in May 1757. 

Meanwhile, the Hindu subjects of the Nawab had been 
goaded to desperation by his frantic excesses ; and a 
powerful conspiracy was set on foot against him, headed ty/ 



106 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

Raja Raidurlabh, his treasurer, and Jagat Seth, the richest 
banker in India joined by Mirjafar, the Commander-in- 
Chief, and many discontented Muhammadans. The English, 
represented by Mr. Watts, the resident at Murshidabad, 
entered into the conspiracy with alacrity ; and it was felt 
by Clive, and indeed by all the Council at Calcutta, that 
Siraj-ud-daulah must be crushed if the English settlement 
wished for peace and security. The conspirators agreed 
that Mirjafar should be set up as Nawab in the place of 
the tyrant, and that the English should receive from the 
gratitude of Mirjafar ample compensation for all their 
losses, and rich rewards for their assistance. 

Umachand, a crafty Bengali, was the agent employed 
to transact business between the English and the Nawab ; 
and he was an active helper in the plot. But at the last 
moment he threatened to turn traitor and disclose all to 
the Nawab, unless he were guaranteed a payment of thirty 
lakhs (300,OOOZ.) Clive and the other conspirators were 
in despair ; and at last they condescended to cheat Uma- 
chand, in order to escape from their present difficulty. 
Two copies of the treaty between the English and Mirjafar 
were made out ; one on white paper was the real treaty, 
in which no mention was made of Umachand's claim ; the 
other on red paper, a mere fictitious treaty, in which 
Umachand was guaranteed all the money he demanded, 
was shown to the faithless Bengali. This piece of decep 
tion has always been a stain on dive's character ; Admiral 
Watson (who had already shown himself to be an honest 
English gentleman in objecting to a temporising policy 
with the Nawab) refused to sign the false treaty so his 
signature was forged by the others. 

Clive now wrote in peremptory terms to the Nawab, 
demanding full redress of all grievances, and announcing 
his approach with an army to enforce his claims ; and 
immediately afterwards set out from Chandernagar, with 
650 European infantry, 150 gunners, 2,100 sepoys, a few 
Portuguese, and 10 guns. The Nawab's army consisted 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 107 

of 50,000 infantry, 18,000 cavalry, and an immense train 
of artillery. As Clive approached the Nawab's encampment 
near Kasimbazar, Mirjafar appears to have lost courage ; 
for he ceased to communicate directly with the English, 
whilst it was known that he had taken solemn oaths to his 
master that he would be faithful to him. Under these 
alarming circumstances, Clive called together his officers in 
a Council of War, to decide whether they should fight 
against such enormous odds, or should wait for a better 
opportunity. The majority of thirteen, including Clive 
himself, voted for the latter course ; only seven, at the 
head of whom was Eyre Coote, voted for immediate fight. 

After dismissing the Council, Clive took a solitary walk 
in an adjoining grove, and after an hour's solemn medita- 
tion, he came to the conclusion that Coote was right, and 
that the attack ought to be made at once. Accordingly, 
early next morning he crossed the river with his little 
band and came upon the Nawab's army about daybreak in 
the fields and groves of PLASSEY. During the early part of 
the day the English remained almost entirely on the de- 
fensive, contenting themselves with repelling the charges 
of the enemy's cavalry, and keeping up a desultory can- 
nonade. At length, however, some of the Nawab's chief 
officers having fallen, the troops of Mirjafar (who had 
hitherto remained undecided) were seen to separate them- 
selves somewhat from the rest of the Nawab's army ; Clive 
now gave the order for a general charge, and carried all 
before him. Siraj-ud-daulah mounted a swift camel, and 
escorted by 2,000 of his best cavalry, fled to Murshidabad. 
The great battle of Plassey, which virtually transferred 
the sovereignty of Bengal (and ultimately of India) to 
the English, was fought on June 23, 1757 ; the victors 
only losing 22 killed and 50 wounded. 

Mirjafar, now that the English were successful, openly 
joined Clive ; who did not condescend to notice his vacil- 
lation, but saluted him Nawab of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. 
Siraj-ud-daulah fled in disguise from Murshidabad, and the 



108 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

victors at once occupied that city. The fugitive was soon 
betrayed by a Hindu, whose ears he had formerly cut off. 
He was seized and brought before the new Nawab. Mir- 
jafar wished, or pretended to wish, to spare him ; but his 
eon Miran caused him to be put to death. 

And now came the settlement of the engagements of 
the treaty. Vast sums were paid to the Company, to the 
British merchants, and to the Native and Armenian mer- 
chants of Calcutta, as indemnity for their losses in the 
sack of the city. The army and the navy with their leaders, 
including Clive, Watson, and the members of Council, all 
shared in the spoil. Umachand expected, too, to get his 
thirty lakhs, but ho was soon undeceived. He was at first 
stunned by the blow ; but he seems to have recovered, for he 
was afterwards recommended by Clive as ' a person capable 
of rendering great services, and therefore not wholly to be 
discarded.' 



CHAPTER XXI. 

CLIVE, AND THE GRANT OF THE l>fWANf OP BENGAL. 

1. Clive as Governor of Bengal. 2. The Nawab Mirjaiar. 
3. The Nawab Mir Kasim. 4. The appointment of the East India 
Company as Diwan of Bengal by the Mughul Emperor. 5. Olive's 
Itoforras. 

1. Clive as Governor of Bengal. Clive was twice go- 
vernor of the English settlements in Bengal ; the first 
time for three years, from 1757 to 17GO; the second time 
for eighteen months, from 1765 to 1767. We have seen 
that on his arrival in 1757 he had found the English 
affairs in Bengal utterly ruined, and the English merchants 
and officers driven away; before his departure in 1767, he 
was undoubtedly the most powerful man in India, and 
the English were unquestioned masters of Bengal, Bihar, 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. lOD 

and Orissa, and formally acknowledged as such by the 
Mughul Emperor. 

2. The Naiudb Mirjafar. From the time of his ac- 
cession to the Nawabship of Bengal after the battle of 
Plassey, Mirjafar was little more than & tool of Clive, and 
was Nawab only in name. As long as Clive remained in 
India, he retained this position. Clive fought his battles 
for him. At one time, when All Gauhar, now called the 
Emperor Shah Alam II. [see Chap. XV.], invaded Bihar, 
Clive sent an English army against him under Colonel 
Caillaud, who soon defeated him in the first Battle of Patna, 
and drove him and his ally, the Nawab-Vazir of Oudh, out 
of the province. Clive ruled Bengal, and Mirjafar enjoyed 
his riches and pleasures at Murshidabad. 

But when Clive went away to England for five years, 
the new governor (Mr. Vansittart) and his Council found 
that the Nawab was madly extravagant in his expenses, 
and was unable to pay them all he owed ; so they deter- 
mined to depose him, and to set up his nephew Mir Kasim 
as Nawab. This was soon done ; and in the next section 
will be found an account of the rule of Mir Kasim, and of 
his deposition. After this Mirjafar was again set up as 
Nawab by the Calcutta Council, who made him pay heavily 
for the favour; and in January 1765 he died, partly of 
vexation at their enormous and incessant demands. His 
son was put on the throne, on the payment of more money 
to the Council ; his name was Ndzim-ud-daulaJi. He was 
the last of the Mughul Subahdars of Bengal ; for during 
his time the Diwani of the province was given by the 
Emperor to the English East India Company, who thus 
became legally (as they already were really) the lords of 
Bengal. 

3. Mir Kasim. When Mir Kasim was put into the 
place of his uncle Mirjafar, he gave the English the three 
districts of Burdwan, Midnapur, and Chittagong. This 
was in 1760. 

But the new Nawab was a clever and vigorous ruler ; 



110 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

and he determined to try to make himself independent of 
the English masters who had given him his throne. He 
abandoned Murshidabad as his capital, and went to live at 
Monghir (or Hunger), in the hope of being more inde- 
pendent at such a great distance from Calcutta. He pro- 
ceeded to collect a large army, and to discipline it in the 
European fashion. 

About this time, the Mughul Emperor Shah Alam II. 
again attempted a permanent occupation of Bihar, when 
he was again defeated in the second Battle of Patna by 
Colonel Carnac. After this defeat, the Emperor accom- 
panied his conqueror, Colonel Carnac, to Patna, where 
Mir Kasim came to pay him homage, and was in conse- 
quence formally invested by the Mughul with the Subahdar- 
ship of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. 

At length an open quarrel broke out between Mir Kasim 
and the English Council in 1763. Mir Kasim appears to 
have been at first in the right, for the conduct of the 
Council was unjust and tyrannical. But the Nawab* dis- 
graced himself and his cause by the Massacre of Patna : 
when he was hard-pressed in the fortress of Patna by the 
advance of the English army, in a fit of rage and madness 
he ordered all his English prisoners (148 in number) to be 
killed in cold blood. The English troops soon advanced 
and took Patna, and Mir Kasim was compelled to flee into 
Oudh, where he took refuge with the Nawab- Vazir of 
Oudh (as the ruler of that country was then called) and 
Shah Alam, the Mughul Emperor. These two great 
princes determined to help Mir Kasim ; so the three 
marched towards Patna, 1764. They were, however, re- 
pulsed by the English army, and at last took up a position 
at Baxar on the Son ; and in October 1764 followed the 
great battle of BAXAR. Major Munro was in command of 
the English forces. The Nawab- Vazir was utterly routed 
with the loss of 160 pieces of cannon. 

The consequences of this victory, were very important. 
The Nawab- Vazir of Oudh, though nominally subject to 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 1U 

Shah Alam II., had long been the real master of the 
Mughul Empire. He was now thoroughly humbled ; and 
was subsequently obliged to throw himself on the mercy 
of the English, who thus succeeded to the real mastery of 
the central plain of Hindustan. The Emperor himself 
came into the English camp at this time. 

4. The appointment of the East India Company as 
Diwan of Bengal by the Mughul Emperor. I have already 
noticed that during the absence of Clive in England, the 
English Government in Calcutta had become very corrupt, 
and the Members of Council thought more of enriching 
themselves than of the good of the country ; so the Di- 
rectors of the East India Company, though they had not 
before been very grateful to Clive for his great services, 
were now very anxious that he should go to India again, 
in order to reform all these evils and abuses ; and at length 
Clive consented to go, and he landed in Calcutta in 1765. 
His first measure was to enforce the orders of the Directors, 
prohibiting the acceptance of presents by their servants. 
He made all sign covenants binding themselves to obey 
this rule. He then proceeded to the English army at 
Allahabad, where the Emperor Shah Alam and Shuja-ud- 
daulah, the Nawab of Oudh, were suppliants in the camp 
of General Carnac. The result of his negotiations was 
that Oudh was restored to Shuja on condition of his being 
a faithful ally of England ; the districts of Korah and 
Allahabad were given to the Emperor ; and the latter con- 
ferred on the English the Diwani (i.e., the right of collect- 
ing the revenue really involving the whole sovereignty) 
of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, in return for a yearly pay- 
ment of twenty-six lakhs. Though the English had long 
virtually possessed all the power thus given to them, the 
Imperial grant of the Diwdni was valuable, as constituting 
them the legal (as well as the actual) sovereigns of the 
country. This happened on August 12, 1765. The Nawab 
of Bengal was soon compelled to retire on a large pension. 

5. Olive's Reforms. The remaining months of Clive'a 



AN fiASt INTRODtTCTION TO 

rule were devoted to carrying out the reforms in the ad. 
ministration of government which he had been sent to 
India to effect. He reduced the gains of the English mili- 
tary officers ; and firmly suppressed a combination of about 
two hundred of them who had agreed to resist his in- 
tentions. He also took severe measures to prevent servants 
of Government from engaging in private trade. 

Clive left India for the last time in 1767, a poorer man 
than he was when he returned to it in 17G5. He was 
received in England with great honour ; but his reforms 
had raised tip for him a host of enemies. All whom he 
had punished, or whose corrupt schemes he had thwarted, 
leagued against him. The Court of Directors did not 
support him as it ought to have done; but a resolution 
was passed, ' that he had rendered meritorious services to 
his country.' He died in 1774, ten years after Dupleix. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

WARREN HASTINGS, THE FIRST GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA. 

1. The Abolition of the Double Government in Bengal. 2. The 
Rohilla War. 3. Warren Hastings as Governor-General of India. 
4. Haidar All and Tippu, Sultans of Mysore. 

1. The Abolition of the Double Government in Bengal. 
After the departure of Clive from India, Mr. Verelst 
became Governor of Bengal ; and he was succeeded by 
Mr. Cartier, who was governor until 1772, During the 
whole of this time Bengal was under a double government^ 
i.e., it was ruled partly by the native officers of the Nawab 
and partly by the officers of the English East India Com- 
pany. This state of affairs produced a great deal of mis- 
management and corruption, under which both the people 
and the revenue suffered, whilst the officers of Government 
alone gained. At length the East India Company deter- 



THE HISTORY OF INDI4, 113 

mined to pr.fc an end to the double government; so in 
1772 they sent out Warren Hastings as Governor of Bengal, 
with orders to take upon himself all the authority which 
belonged to the Company as Diwan of the province. 

\Varren Hastings had already distinguished himself in 
various important posts in the Bengal Civil Service, and 
had been Member of Council at Madras. Immediately on 
his arrival in Calcutta as governor, he transferred the seat 
ef government to that city from Murshidabad ; he imme- 
diately made arrangements for the establishment of new 
Courts of Civil and Criminal Justice under the authority 
of the East India Company, and he set to work to draw 
up a new code of laws. 

2. The Rohilla War. The most Important event that 
occurred whilst Hastings was Governor of Bengal, before 
he became Governor- General of India, in 1774, was the 
ftohilla War. A tribe of Afghans called Rohillas had 
conquered and occupied the province on the north-west of 
Oudh, now called after them Rohilkhand, during the dis- 
orders of the reign of the Emperor Muhammad Shah \_see 
Chap. XV., 3]. In 1771 the Mahrattas had invaded 
Rohilkhand ; and the Rohillas had offered the Nawab-Vazir 
of Oudh, according to his account, a sum of forty lakhs 
for his protection against them. In 1773 the Mahrattas 
abandoned Rohilkhand ; the Nawab now claimed the forty 
lakhs, whilst the Rohillas affirmed that no such promise 
had been made. The Nawab appealed to Hastings, who 
believed his statement, and ultimately sent a small English 
army into Rohilkhand. The result was that the Rohillas 
were conquered ai*d their territory given to the Nawab- 
Vazir of Oudh ; whilst the disputed forty lakhs of rupees 
were made over to the English Government, together with 
all the expenses of the war. 

3. Warren Hastings as Governor-General of India. 
About this time the English Parliament in London, hearing 
of the many disorders and abuses of the English rule in 
India, passed an Act for bettei regulating the administra- 

I 



H4 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

tion of that Government. This Act was called the REGU- 
LATING ACT ; it was passed in 1773, and came into operation 
in 1774. Amongst other changes made by the Regulating 
Act, it was ordered that the Governor of Bengal should be 
Governor- General of all the British possessions in India, 
and should rule those possessions according to the advice of 
his Council of four. The Govern or- General and the Mem- 
bers of Council : had each one vote in deciding on the ques- 
tions brought before the Council : in this way each Member 
of Council was almost as powerful as the Governor- General 
himself a state of things destructive of all good govern- 
ment. 

Warren Hastings was now Governor- General of India. 
Of the first four Members of Council, Mr. Barwell had been 
long in India, and generally supported the measures of 
Warren Hastings, but the other three were entirely unac- 
quainted with this country, and one of them (Mr. Francis, 
afterwards Sir Philip Francis) was bitterly hostile to the 
Governor- General so that the latter was out- voted in the 
debates of the Council, and the three new Members carried 
everything their own way until the death of one of them in 
1776. 

The people during this interval generally regarded the 
power and authority of Hastings as extinct, and many ac- 
cusations were brought against him by persons who wished 
to please the factious majority in the Council. Of these 
charges the most serious was brought forward by Nanda- 
kumdr, a man infamous for his treachery and perfidy. 
Francis and his colleagues, however, took him under their 
protection, and encouraged him in his charges against the 
Governor-General. Suddenly Nandakumar was arrested, at 
the suit of an eminent native merchant, for forgery ; he was 
tried by Sir Elijah Impey in the Supreme Court, was found 
guilty by a jury, and hanged hanging was at that time 
the usual punishment for forgery. This execution created 
a great sensation, and Hastings has often been accused of 
having procured it unjustly to screen himself, but there 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 116 

seems no reason to doubt that Nandakumar was justly con- 
demned to death. Good proof that Hastings was in no way 
concerned with the conviction and execution is to be found 
in the fact that the Members of Council might have in- 
terfered to refer the matter to England, but they refused to 
do so. 

The Judges of the Supreme Court established in Calcutta, 
in striving to ' protect natives from oppression and give 
India the benefits of English law,' committed many great 
mistakes. They interfered between the zamindars and 
their rayats. Their attorneys stirred up strife everywhere. 
Hastings interfered to protect the landholders from this 
vexatious interference, and Parliament was petitioned for 
a change of system, and meanwhile a remedy was disco, 
vered. In the Sadar Diwdni Andlat, the Governor- General 
himself and his Council were appointed to preside. This 
they could not do, and Hastings offered the appointment 
of Chief Judge of this Court to Sir Elijah Impey, the Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court. This reconciled all parties, 
and enabled Impey to turn his attention to the subject of 
the administration of justice according to such forms as 
might suit the great simplicity of native habits. This, 
though disallowed by the Court of Directors at the time, is 
the system now restored by the amalgamation in each pre- 
sidency of the Supreme Court with the Company's old Court 
of Appeal. 

During the later years of his reign, Warren Hastings 
was engaged in many and great wars, some account oi 
which will be found in the next section In order to ob- 
tain money for these wars, he adopted some harsh mea- 
sures, especially towards Chait Singli, who was the Raja 
of Benares, and the Begums of Oudh, and for these and some 
other measures he was afterwards much blamed by his 
countrymen in England. 

Benares had formerly been under the dominion of the 
Nawab-Vazir of Oodh, but in 1775 the factious majority in 
the English Council, against the wishes of Hastings, forced 

It 



116 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

the Nawab to give the territory of Benares to the English. 
They then gave up tho charge of this territory to the 
Hindu Zamindar, who was declared a feudatory Raja under 
the protection of the English, on condition of his paying an 
annual tribute of twenty-two and a half lakhs. In 1780 the 
Governor- General, being urgently in need of more money 
to carry on the wars against the Mahrattas and the Sultan 
of Mysore, informed the Raja Chait Singh that he must pay 
larger tribute than the twenty-two and a half lakhs, and 
that he must also provide some soldiers to help the English 
Government. This the Raja was very unwilling to do, so 
"Warren Hastings proceeded to Benares, chiefly with the in- 
tention of forcing him to obey. Hastings at last was so much 
annoyed by the ingratitude of the Raja that he ordered some 
sepoys to arrest him. Now Raja Chait Singh was so much 
respected by the people of Benares, that when they heard of 
this order they immediately rose in insurrection and massa- 
cred the soldiers who had been sent to carry it out, and 4/hen 
they came and surrounded the place where Hastings was. 
The Raja escaped from the city. The Governor- General 
was in extreme danger, as he had hardly any guards with 
1dm, yet he did not lose his coolness or presence of mind, 
and ultimately he was able to reach the fortress of Chanar. 
Troops were now summoned to him from all quarters ; the 
Raja's army of 20,000 men was defeated, and the fortress 
of Bijgarh, in which he had taken refuge, was taken. The 
troops, however, seized all Chait Singh's treasures that they 
found in Bijgarh, and the Raja himself escaped to Gwaliar, 
so Hastings was doubly disappointed. He appointed Chait 
Singh's nephew to be Raja of Benares, and then returned 
to Calcutta. 

In the following year he was more successful in getting 
a, large sum of money from the Begums of Oudh. The old 
Nawab- Vazir of Oudh had died in 1775, and his widow 
and mother, the Begums, declared that he had left to them 
by will all the immense treasures of the State of Oudh. The 
English Council at Calcutta, against the wishes of Hastings, 
had forced the young Nawab to allow the Begums to retain 



THE HISTORY OF INLIA. 117 

all this money, and thus the young Nawab was left with 
no money, either to pay his army or to discharge his debt 
to the English Government. In 1781 the Nawab declared 
that he was unable to pay this debt, except with the money 
which the Begums had seized ; and charges were brought 
forward against these ladies of having helped Chait Singh 
with money and with soldiers. Hastings consequently 
allowed the Nawab to extort seventy-six lakhs from the 
Begums, wherewith to pay his debt to the English. This 
appears to have been an action of very doubtful justice, 
though it is impossible to ascertain how far the Begums 
were originally entitled to all the money which they had 
seized. However this may be, the conduct of Warren 
Hastings, both towards the Begums and towards Chait 
Singh, was severely censured by the Directors of the East 
India Company in London, so he determined to resign his 
office as Governor- General. He left India in February 
1785. Shortly after he reached England, his enemies de- 
termined to bring him. to trial for his conduct in India, and 
a famous orator, named Burke, was especially bitter in his 
prosecution of Hastings. The case was tried before the 
House of Lords, the House of Commons being the accusers 
(such a trial is called an impeachment'). It began on the 
13th February, 1788, and was protracted till the 23rd April, 
1795, when he was completely and honourably acquitted. 
The trial cost him 100,OOOZ. Though thus reduced to com- 
parative poverty, he lived peaceably at Daylesford, till his 
death, in 1819. Once only did he again appear in public, 
and then he was called to give, in 1813, evidence before 
the House of Commons regarding Indian affairs. On that 
occasion the whole assembly stood up to do him honour. 

Some important alterations were made by the English 
Parliament in 1784, in the constitution of the Government 
of India both in England and in this country. The chief 
point was that the control of the British Indian empire was 
confided, in all essential points, to a Minister of the King 
of England, who was called President of the Board of Con- 
trol, who had the power of appointing the Governor. 



118 AN EAST INTEODUCTION TO 

General. The Act of Parliament that made these alterations 
was called Pitt's India Bill, because it had been devised by 
Mr. Pitt, the great English Prime Minister. A great rival 
of Mr. Pitt, named Mr. Fox, had previously endeavoured to 
persuade the English Parliament to pass another law about 
the Indian Government, which would have put the English 
dominions in India directly under the authority of the Eng- 
lish Crown, almost as they are at present, but the Parlia- 
ment refused to sanction this Bill. 

4. Haidar Ali and Tippu, Sultans of Mysore. The 
pressing want of money which led Hastings to adopt such 
severe measures against the Raja of Benares and the Be- 
gums of Oudh was mainly caused by the many great wars 
in which he was involved about this time. These wars were 
directed against the Mahrattas, the Sultan of Mysore, the 
French, and the Dutch. The war against the Mahrattas, 
called the First Mahratta War, has been briefly described 
in Chap. XVII., 8, and we there saw that the aid at first 
offered to Raghoba by the English was ineffectual, owing to 
the many difficulties in which they were involved elsewhere, 
and especially the war with Mysore. 

The State of Mysore in Southern India had risen into 
importance and power owing to the great abilities of a 
famous military leader, named HAIDAR AlA . This man had 
been one of the captains of the troops of the Hindu Raja of 
Mysore, and in 1761 he had expelled the Raja and his 
minister from the kingdom, and had established himself as 
Sultan. He had already collected a considerable number of 
troops and much treasure ; and not long after he had suc- 
ceeded in placing himself on the throne, he seized the for- 
tress of Bednor, in which he found an immense hoard of 
treasure, which aided him in his future wars. 

In 1765 the Mahrattas, under Madu Rao, the fourth 
Peshwa, invaded Haidar's dominions, and utterly defeated 
his army, and he was consequently obliged to cede to them 
all the territory he had conquered on the northern frontiers, 
and to pay thirty-two lakhs. In the following year, how- 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA 119 

ever, he recovered some of his lost ground, for he led his 
army westward into the fertile Malabar country and con- 
quered most of that district. Here he was guilty of the 
most disgraceful treachery, for though the Zamorin (or 
petty Raja) of Calicat came out and submitted to him, he 
took that city by surprise and sacked it, the Zamorin 
burning himself in his palace to avoid a worse fate. 

The First Mysore War broke out between the English 
Government of Madras and Haidar in 17b'6, not long before 
Clive left India for the last time. At first the Mahrattas 
under Madu Rao, and the Haidarabad forces under the Ni- 
zam, were in alliance with the English, but they were bribed 
by Haidar, and ultimately the Nizam's forces joined those 
of Mysore. Colonel Smith was the English general, and he 
was at one time in considerable danger, as he had only 7,000 
men and 16 guns against 70,000 men and 100 guns of 
Haidar and the Nizam. Ultimately, however, he repulsed 
them at Chdngama, and soon afterwards routed them at 
Tri'ti-omaU, both places being in South Arcot, A.D. 1767. 
The war was continued with varied fortune for two years 
longer, and Haidar was at one time so hard pressed that he 
was obliged to sue for peace. But at last, in 1769, the skilful 
Mysore chief made a rapid march at the head of a large force 
of cavalry, so as to avoid the army of Colonel Smith, and 
appeared within a few miles of the city of Madras. On this 
the Madras Council immediately made peace with him, on 
condition that all things should remain as they had been at 
the beginning of the war. This treaty of Madras concluded 
the first Mysore War. 

In 1769 Haidar was again attacked by Madn Rao and 
the Mahrattas. In the war that followed he was continually 
defeated and well-nigh ruined, and at last, in 1772 (about 
the time that Warren Hastings was appointed Governor of 
Bengal), the unfortunate Sultan of Mysore was compelled 
to buy off the Mahrattas by giving them all his northern 
dominions, and by promising to pay them enormous sums. 
In the following six years, however, he more than re- 



120 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

covered all lie had lost, owing to the death of Madu Rao 
and the dissensions among the Mahrattas [see Chap. XVII., 
7]. 

In 1780 the Second Mysore War broke out between the 
English and Haidar. The Sultan of Mysore had taken ad- 
vantage of the English being involved in the difficulties of 
the first Mahratta War, to induce the Mahrattas and the 
Nizam of Haidarabad to help him in conquering the Eng- 
lish dominions in the Carnatic. He invaded the Carnatic 
in July 1780, with a grand army of 90,000 men, and was at 
first entirely successful. He took many English forts, and 
at length succeeded in defeating part of the English army 
under Colonel Baillie, taking as prisoners Baillie himself 
and about 200 men. The English commander-in-chief was 
called Sir Hector Mwiro, and he was now forced to retreat 
to Madras, and to send a request for help to Warren Has- 
tings, the Governor- General, at Calcutta. Hastings imme- 
diately sent Sir Eyre Coote to Madras by sea with some 
troops, and this brave and skilful general defeated Haidar 
iu three great battles during the course of the year 1781, at 
Porto Novo, PoUilor, and Solingcvrh. But in the following 
year Sir Eyre Coote was obliged to resign his command 
owing to ill-health, and the war was carried on throughout 
the year with varied success, until at length, in December 
1782, Haidar died somewhat suddenly. His son Tippu, 
who now succeeded him as Sultan of Mysore, was distin- 
guished by an implacable hatred of the English. He was 
a man of a cruel and ferocious temper, like his father, and 
hardly inferior to him in military skill, whilst he was far 
superior in general knowledge. He carried on the war 
against the Madras Government for more than a year 
longer, and at last, in 1784, when an English army under 
Colonel Fullarton was about to march on his capital, Se- 
ringapatam, lie concluded a treaty with the Governor of 
Madras (in opposition to the wishes of the Governor-Gene- 
ral), by which it was agreed that both sides should restore 
the conquests which they had made. This was much to the 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 121 

disadvantage of the Madras Government, for the English 
had made many more conquests than Tippu had. The 
treaty which ended this second Mysore War was called the 
Treaty of Mangalore, 1784. We shall hear of the third My- 
sore War (1790) in the time of Lord Cornwallis, but the 
final conquest of Mysore was not effected until the reign of 
the great Marquis Wellesley (1798-1799), in the fourth 
Mysore War. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

LORD CORNWALLIS ; THE THIRD MYSORE WAR, AND THE PER- 
MANENT SETTLEMENT OF BENGAL. A.D. 1786 TO 1793. 

1. Eeforms in the Administration. 2. The Third Mysore 
War. 3. The Permanent Settlement of the Revenues of Bengal. 
4. Reforms in the Law Courts. 5. Sir John Shore, Governor- 
General. 

1. Reforms MJ the Administration. When Warren Has- 
tings retired from the Governor- Generalship in 1785, there 
was some delay before any one was appointed to that high 
office ; and in the meantime Sir John Macpherson, Senior 
Member of Council, acted as Governor-General. At last 
Lord Cornwallis was appointed, a nobleman of great firm- 
ness and energy, and he commenced his reign by some 
vigorous reforms in the administration of the Government, 
which had suffered much from corruption and bribery, not- 
withstanding all the efforts of Clive and Warren Hastings. 
The officers and public servants of the East India Company 
had been hitherto allowed only very small salaries, and as 
their opportunities were great of enriching themselves by 
taking bribes and in other dishonest ways, they had fre- 
quently yielded to the temptation. Lord Cornwallis now 
ordered that every officer of the Government should receive 
such a good salary as should leave no shadow of excuse for 
trading or attempting to acquire money by improper means, 



122 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

and this benevolent order, combined with great firmness 
in punishing all evil-doers, soon produced a very beneficial 
effect. 

2. The Third Mysore Wwr. After the treaty of Man, 
galor and the conclusion of the Second Mysore War in 
1784, Tippii Sultan advanced rapidly in power and wealth. 
During the six years from 1784 to 1790 he had successfully 
resisted a most formidable attack of the Mahrattas and the 
Nizam of Haidarabad ; he had conquered the districts of 
Caiiara, Coorg, and Malabar, often with circumstances of 
the greatest cruelty and oppression destroying all Hindu 
temples and forcing as many of the people as he could to 
become Muhammadaus. At last he attacked the Raja of 
Travancor, the territory which lies in the extreme southern 
corner of India. In his first attack on the wall which the 
Raj! of Travancor had built to defend his country, Tippu 
was repulsed with immense loss and with considerable 
danger to himself ; so he determined in his rage to tak,e & 
terrible revenge, and made large preparations for the con- 
quest of the little State that had dared to defeat him. But 
the Kaja of Travancor was an ally of the English ; and 
Lord Cornwallis determined to prevent Tippu from carrying 
out his designs. 

The Nizam of Haidarabad had just at this time (1788-89) 
fulfilled an old promise by ceding to the English the district 
of Ga,ntur, south of the Krishna ; and he now agreed to help 
the English against Tippu, being promised that he should 
receive some of the conquered territory. The Mahrattas of 
Puna also, under the clever minister named Nana Farnavis 
[see Chap. XVII., 8J, promised help on the same condi- 
tions. In 1790 Lord Cornwallis went in person to Madras 
to conduct the war. In March 1791 he captured Bangalor, 
the second city in point of size and importance in Tippu's 
dominions ; and two months afterwards he totally defeated 
Tippu and all his army in the great battle of ARIKERA. 
After this the capital Seringapatam must itself have been 
taken, if the Mahrattas had been at hand to help Lord 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 123 

Cornwallis, as they had promised ; but their general Hari 
Pant had been intent only on plunder, and had conse- 
quently delayed his march so long that at last Lord Corn- 
wallis was obliged, for want of supplies, to return to Madras. 
During the rest of the year he busied himself with prepa- 
rations for the next campaign, and in taking sundry of 
Tippu's fortresses; and at the very beginning of 1792 he 
marched once more against Seringapatam. This great 
fortress was just about to fall, indeed, the outer works had 
already been taken, when Tippii agreed to the terms im- 
posed by Lord Cornwallis. These were, to cede half his 
territories, to pay three crores of rupees to the English, as 
well as thirty lakhs to the Mahrattas, and to give up two 
of his sons as hostages. Lord Cornwallis faithfully fulfilled 
his promise of giving a share of the conquered territories 
to the Nizam and to the Mahrattas, though their soldiers 
had done nothing in the war, and had even treacherously 
corresponded with Tippu. The English gained by this 
successful war the districts of Dindigal, the Baramahall, 
and Malabar ; whilst Coorg was restored to its own Raja. 
These final arrangements that concluded the Third Mysore 
War were perfected in February 1792. 

3. The Permanent Settlement of the Revenues of Ben- 
gal. Lord Cornwallis gained much credit for the successful 
prosecution of the war against Tippu ; and he was raised 
to the rank of a Marquis for it, though the East India 
Company disapproved of the acquisition of new territory. 
But the chief ground of his fame is the Permanent Settle- 
ment, which he effected in 1793, of the land revenue of 
Bengal. 

The land had been the principal source of revenue under 
every dynasty. The collectors of this revenue in Bengal 
under the Mughul Emperors had, by degrees, converted 
themselves into zamindars, possessing military and judicial 
authority. Many of these zamindars were also the repre- 
sentatives of the old local aristocracy. These persons the 
British Government did not at first recognise ; but in 1 786, 



124 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

the Directors wrote out that all engagements should, as a 
matter of policy, be made with the zamindars. This was 
to be done for ten years ; and the settlement of revenue- 
payment to be made permanent, if it were found to answer. 
Lord Cornwallis, by his regulations in 1793, confirmed the 
zamindars in the absolute proprietorship of the soil. They 
were legally constituted landlords under the British Govern- 
ment ; and the cultivators were recognised as their tenants. 
These last were left too much at the mercy of the zamindars, 
and this was the weak point in the whole settlement. Mr. 
Shore opposed its being made permanent ; Lord Cornwallis, 
and the authorities in England, decided that it should be 
permanent. 

4. Reforms in the Law Courts. The reform of the 
Civil and Criminal Courts next occupied his attention. 
Sir Elijah Impey's rules were developed into a volume of 
regulations by Sir George Barlow ; and the system of 
Civil Courts and procedure which, with modifications, still 
exists, was established. The greatest evil of this system 
was the power it gave to the police of oppressing the people. 
Natives were excluded from all share in the administration 
of justice, and from all but the most subordinate offices in 
the public employ. This was remedied in after-times. 

5. Sir John Shore as Governor-General. Sir John 
Shore, an eminent civilian, was appointed to succeed Lord 
Cornwallis as Governor-General of India ; and he reigned 
from 1793 to 1798. The period of his rule, however, was 
not distinguished by many important public events ; and 
as he, like Lord Cornwallis, regarded himself bound by the 
orders of the Directors of the East India Company not to 
interfere in any quarrels between native princes, we may 
properly include his reign in the same chapter with that 
of Lord Cornwallis. This ' non-intervention policy ' gave 
great encouragement to the ambition both of Tippii in 
Mysore and of the Mahrattas. The Mahrattas were em 
boldened by it to attack the Nizam of Haidarabad, whose 
power they effectually humbled in the battle of Kurdla, as 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 125 

narrated in Chap. XVII., 0. Throughout this period, 
Nana Farnavis, the prime minister of the Peshwa, was the 
most powerful Mahratta statesman. 

On one occasion, however, Sir John Shore found him- 
self obliged to interfere with the affairs of a native State. 
In 1797 the Nawab- Vazir Asaf-ud-daulah of Oudh died. 
In vain had he been exhorted to pay some attention to the 
welfare of his kingdom. He lived and died a child in in- 
tellect, and a debased sensualist. A reputed son of the 
late Nawab- Vazir Ali succeeded him ; but his proved ille- 
gitimacy and worthless character led Sir John Shore to 
displace him, and elevate Saadat Ali, brother of the late 
Nawab. Mr. Cherry was the Resident at Benares; and 
he negotiated the treaty with Saadat Ali, then living at 
Benares. Soon after, the new Nawab marched to Lucknow, 
where Sir John was encamped. The Governor- General 
was in extreme peril from Vazir All's hordes of lawless 
soldiers ; but he, with the utmost calmness and composure, 
maintained his position, and the new Nawab was placed 
on the masnad, Vazir Ali being sent to Benares. In 1799 
Vazir Ali assassinated Mr. Cherry in Benares, and raised 
a temporary rebellion, but was defeated and taken prisoner. 

Sir John Shore, who was created Lord Teignmouth, 
sailed for England in March 1798. 



CHAPTER XXTV. 

THE MAEQUIS WELLESLEY ; THE CONQUEST OP MYSORE AND 
OF THE MAHRATTAS. A.D. 1798-1805. 

1. The Subsidiary System. 2. The Fourth (and last) Mysore 
War. 3. Formal Annexation of the Carnatic, and of the North-West 
Provinces. 4. The Conquest of the Mahrattas. 

1. The Subsidiary System. A few words are here ne- 
cessary to explain the SUBSIDIARY SYSTEM, which Warren 
Hastings was the first to introduce in his dealings with 



126 IN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

Oudh, and which was the basis of the policy of the Marquis 
Wellesley in his dealings with native States. When a 
State consented by treaty to accede to this system, it ac- 
knowledged the British Government as the paramount 
power in India ; and in return it received the guarantee 
of that Government for its safety and integrity. It agreed 
not to make war or peace without the sanction of the 
paramount power, and to maintain a contingent of troops 
as a subsidiary force wherewith to aid the British Govern- 
ment in time of need. Such were usually the main con- 
ditions of this policy, modified, of course, according to 
circumstances. It superseded altogether the policy which 
had been in vogue under Lord Cornwallis and Sir John 
Shore, which had been based mainly on the foolish idea of 
maintaining a balance of power amongst the native States, 
so as to prevent any of them becoming too powerful. 

2. The Fourth (and last) Mysore War. At the mo- 
ment of Lord Wellesley's arrival, the British empii^ in 
India was threatened by a combination of a large number 
of native chiefs, who were encouraged to resist the English 
arms both by the ' non-intervention ' policy of the two 
preceding Governors- General, and by the aid and money 
of the French, with whom the English had now been long 
at war. Tippu Sultan of Mysore, the Nizam of Haidarabad, 
and Sindia, the most powerful of the Mahratta chiefs, were 
all under French influence, and had their armies chiefly 
officered by Frenchmen ; whilst Zatnan Shah, the Durrani 
monarch of Afghanistan and the Pidnjab the grandson of 
the terrible Ahmad Shah Abdali,fwho had so often over- 
run Hindustan [see Chap. XV., 5], threatened to 
invade Northern India as an ally of Tippii Sultan. But 
Lord Wellesley, by his extraordinary vigour and ability, 
and by the military skill and bravery of the soldiers under 
him (especially of his brother, Colonel Wellesley, after- 
wards the great Duke of Wellington), was ultimately able 
to dissipate all these dangers. 

His first step was to conclude a ' subsidiary treaty' 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA 127 

i.e., a treaty on the subsidiary principle explained in the 
preceding section with the Nizam of Haidarabad ; under 
which the Nizam helped the English in the Mysore War 
with a considerable force, the command of which was given 
to Colonel Wellesley. He then proceeded to Madras, to 
direct the operations against Tippu, who had madly de- 
clared himself a ' citizen of the French republic,' and had 
publicly asked for the help of the great French general 
Napoleon Buonaparte (who was at this time in Egypt) to 
expel the English from India. Two armies were ordered 
to invade the Mysore territories ; one under the com- 
mander-in-chief, General Harris, was called the army of 
the Carnatic, and advanced on Tippu from the side of 
Madras ; the other, under General Stuart, consisted of 
Bombay troops, and advanced on the Malabar side. Tippu 
was defeated by each of these armies successively by 
General Stuart's forces in the battle of Sedasir, and by 
General Harris's forces at Mallavelli (1799). At length 
both the English armies arrived before Seringapatam, 
Tippu's capital, and the great Siege of Seringapatam began. 
Tippu seems to have lost all the energies of his mind 
at this time, and to have been overwhelmed by fear and 
despair. He consulted soothsayers /and Brahmans, and 
caused prayers to be offered up both in Muhammadaii 
mosques and in Hindju temples, Torgetfnl of the frightful 
cruelties which he had inflicted on the Hindus. He sent 
to propose terms oNj>eace, and then refused to listen to the 
conditions offered by TSjeiieral Harris. He appears to have 
lost all generalship aiftL^ diplomacy, and even common 
sense. Meanwhile, GeaeraHHarris was vigorously bom- 
barding the defences of the sfatpendous fortress, and on 
May 3, 1799, the breach was reported to be practicable. 
Before daybreak on the 4th, General Baird, who had for 
four years been a prisoner in the dungeons of the city, led 
the troops to the assault. In seven minutes the British flag 
was planted on the summit of the breach. The two co- 
lumns, after encountering many obstacles, and gallant 



128 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

opposition from a small band of Mysore troops, met ovei 
the eastern gateway. The city was taken. 

The body of the Sultan himself was found in a palanquin 
under an archway, beneath a heap of slain. It was buried 
with military honours the next day in a beautiful mauso- 
leum in the Lai Bagh. It was ascertained (and it takes 
away any lingering feeling of pity for the tyrant) that every 
European prisoner taken during the siege had been put to 
death by Tippu. 

Lord Wellesley now gave part of the territories of Tippii 
to the Nizam of Haidarabad, retaining for the English the 
districts of Canara, Coimbator, and the Wainad. He 
restored to the throne of the principality of Mysore a little 
boy who was the legal representative of the ancient Hindu 
royal family, and left his brother, General Wellesley, to su- 
perintend the settlement and administration of the country; 
The conquest of Mysore made the English power unques- 
tionably supreme in the Dakhin. , 

3. Formal Annexation of the Carnatic and of the North' 
West Provinces. In 1801, two years after the fall of Serin- 
gapatam, the Nawab of the Carnatic (son of the old Mu- 
hammad All see Chap. XIX., 2 who had died in 1795) 
formally resigned to the British Government the territories 
known as the Carnatic, in return for a large pension, and 
this cession enlarged the Presidency of Madras to its pre- 
sent size. 

The Governor-General about this time (1801) inter- 
vened in the affairs of Oudh, which had been frightfully 
misgoverned and oppressed by the Nawab-Vazir Saadat AH 
and his Vazir, who moreover had neglected to maintain 
their array in the efficient and disciplined state promised 
by the subsidiary treaty. Lord Cornwallis now compelled 
the Nawab to remedy this, and to cede certain districts to 
the British Government for the support of these troops. 
The districts thus ceded comprised a great part of what are 
now called the North- Wosi Provinces. 

4. The Conquest of the Mafirattas. The (toverncnrt 



THE BISTORT OF INDIA. 1.29 

General had had many disputes with, the Directors of the 
East India Company, who disapproved of his extensive 
conquests, and also of his liberality in wishing to throw 
open the trade of India i.e., to allow any one to carry- 
on trade between England and India that wished to do so, 
instead of reserving the whole trade for the East India 
Company. At last, in 1802, Lord Wellesley had almost 
determined to resign his office, but he was induced to re- 
main as Governor-General a little longer ; and this was a 
most fortunate thing for British India, for just now hap- 
pened the Treaty of Bassein (1802), followed by the Second 
Malira.Ua War (1803-1804) against Sindia and the Raja of 
Barar, and the Third Hahratta War (1804-1805) fegainst 
Holkar and the Raja of Bharfcpnr, which finally crushed 
the power of the Mahrattas and established the British Em- 
pire as the Paramount Power throughout India. A short 
account of these wars and their consequences has already 
been given in Chap. XIX., 10, 11, 12. This was tha 
time when Orissa was finally taken from the Mahrattas by 
the English, 1803-1804. 

Lord Wellesley left Calcutta in August 1805, after a 
most glorious and successful administration. He had in- 
rreased the dominions of the East India Company to more 
than double their former extent, and had firmly consolidated 
this gigantic empire. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

tORD CORNWALL1S AGAIN, SIB GEORGE BARLOW, LORD 
1805 1813. 

1. Peace with the Mahrattas. 2. The Vellor Mutiny. 3. Tho 
Else of the Sikh Power in the Panjab. 

1. Peace with the Mahrattas. The warlike Lord Welles- 
ley, who had made so many conquests, was succeeded by 
Lord Cornwallig, who came out to India to be Governor- 

K 



130 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

General for the second time, but who died within a few 
months of his arrival. Next Sir George Barlow was ap- 
pointed Governor- General, and both Lord Cornwallis and 
Sir George Barlow were determined immediately to make 
peace with all the enemies against whom Lord Wellesley 
had been fighting. The consequence of this was, that the 
Mahratta chief Holkar [see Chap. XIX., 12] obtained 
peace on very easy terms in November 3805; and what 
was particularly disgraceful to Sir George Barlow in thus 
hastily making peace, was the fact that the Mahrattas were 
now allowed to revenge themselves on the faithful Rajput 
allies of the English, for the Governor-General declared that 
he would no more interfere in any of the quarrels between 
Native Princes. 

2. The Vellor Mutiny. During Sir George Barlow's 
short reign (1805-1807) occurred also a mutiny at Vellor 
amongst the Madras sepoys, who had been deluded into the 
belief that some change which was made by the Ggvern- 
ment in the shape of their head-dresses was intended to 
break their caste and turn them into Christians. The mu- 
tinous sepoys were at once dispersed or slain, but not until 
they had killed some European fellow-soldiers, whom they 
surprised in sleep. After this, Sir George Barlow was de- 
prived of the office of Governor- General, and made Governor 
of Madras ; Lord Minto was appointed Governor-General, 
and reigned from 1807 to 1813. 

3. The Rise of the Sikh Power in the Panjab. During 
the reign of Lord Minto, the war between the English and 
the French, which had been going on for many years in 
Europe, was continued with great fury, and the British In- 
dian troops took away from the French all the colonies in 
the East that were held by them or their allies, the Dutch, 
particularly the rich Dutch Island of Java. About the same 
tune it was feared that the French and the Russians were 
hoping to disturb the British rule in India, by stirring up 
the rulers of the Panjab, of Sindh, of Afghanistan, and of 
Persia to conspire again?*' the English. Lord Minto, how- 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 131 

ever, succeeded in persuading the kings of Kabul and of 
Persia, and the Amirs of Sindh, to make treaties with him, 
by which they promised to have nothing to do with any 
other European Powers. He also induced the great Ranjit 
Singh, the leader of the Sikhs in the Panjab, to make a 
similar treaty : and it will be well for us here to go back 
a little, to note the rise of the power of the Sikhs in the 
Panjab. 

We have seen, in Chap. XV., 2, that the Sikhs were at 
first an inoffensive religious sect, and that gradually, in con- 
sequence of the cruel way in which they were persecuted by 
the Muhammadan Emperors of Dehli, they became a mili- 
tary as well as a religious body. They were nearly extirpated 
by the Emperor Farrukh Siyar (1713-1719), but they soon 
recovered their numbers and influence in the Panjab. This 
province was subjugated by the Persians under Nadir Shah 
in 1738, and again several times by the Afghan Chief Ahmad 
ShahAbdalior Durrani, 1747-1759 [see Chap. XV., 4, 5]. 
From the year 1751 it was severed from the Mughul 
Empire, and was attached more or less closely to the Durrani 
Empire of Kabul under the successors of Ahmad Shah. 

Ranjit Singh was born on November 2, 1780. He first 
attracted the attention of Zaman Shah Durrani [see 62], 
the grandson of Ahmad Shah, by recovering some guns for 
him which had been lost in the Jhelam. By Zaman Shah 
he was appointed Governor of Lahore in 1798, when he was 
only eighteen. From this time Ranjit Singh devoted his 
great abilities to the improvement of his army and the 
enlargement of his territories. 

In 1809, the Sardars of the Cis-Satlej States of Pattiala 
and Jhind appealed to Lord Minto for protection against the 
encroachments of Ranjit. 

Mr. Metcalfe (afterwards Sir Charles Metcalfe, and sub- 
sequently Lord Metcalfe) was sent to Lahore as an envoy, 
and a treaty was concluded by which Ranjit Singh agreed 
to respect the rights of the Cis-Satlej States, and to culti- 
vate the friendship of the British Government. Ranjit 

x2 



132 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

Singh was greatly pleased with the demeanour of young 
Metcalfe (who was only in. his twenty-first year), and was 
so much impressed in favour of the English character, 
that he could never afterwards be induced to break this 
treaty. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

tHE MARQUIS OF HASTINGS: THE NEPAL AND PIND^RI WAEt. 

A.D. 1813-1823. 
1. The Nepal War. 2. The Pindari War. 

1. The Nepal War. The Earl of Moira (afterwards 
the Marquis of Hastings) was appointed to succeed Lord 
Minto, and arrived in Calcutta in October 1813. He found 
the finances embarrassed, and many disputes with Native 
States pending ; for nine years he ruled with resolution 
and success, and left the Empire in a flourishing condition. 
He \vas a distinguished soldier, an experienced statesman, 
and a man of amiable manners and noble character. 

The Ghurkas, a powerful and warlike tribe, had recently 
established themselves in Nepal. Gradually extending 
their conquests, they had thoroughly subjugated the sub- 
Himalayan valleyr, and were now displaying an inclination 
to encroach on their southern neighbours in Hindustan. 
The ruler of Nepal had imprisoned the zamindar of Bhutwal, 
and had seized his territory : and eighteen British police 
officers in that district had been murdered. The Governor- 
General determined to teach the Ghurkas a severe lesson, 
and ordered a British army to advance into Nepal in four 
divisions by different routes, A.D. 1814. Generals Ochter- 
lony and Gillespie were in command of the British troops ; 
but the latter was killed in a gallant but unsuccessful 
Attempt to take the fortress of Kalunga, and the army met 
with several reverses. Amir Sinp;h was the General of the 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 133 

Ghiirkas. General Ochterlony at length succeeded in 
driving him from the heights of Ramgarh, which were 
exceedingly strong ; the Raja of Bilaspur was detached 
from the Nepal cause, and the province of Kumaon subdued. 
At last Amir Singh was shut up in the fortress of Maloun ; 
and in May 1815 he was forced to capitulate to General 
Ochterlony. All the forts between the Jamnah and the 
Satlej were then given up, and Garhwal evacuated. The 
Court of Nepal, terrified by these reverses, now made over- 
tures for peace ; but the negotiations were broken off, 
owing to the unwillingness of the Nepalese to cede some 
districts of the Terai. General Ochterlony resumed military 
operations in January 1816, and gained some more victories ; 
when at length the Nepal Darbar convinced of their in- 
ability to oppose the British, agreed to cede all the con- 
quered provinces, and peace was concluded (1816). 

2. The Pinddri War. The Pinddris were hordes of 
lawless plundering robbers that had long followed like 
jackals the armies of the Mahratta chiefs, especially those 
of Sindia and Holkar. Assignments of lands had been made 
to them on the banks of the Narbaddah ; and they had for 
some years been the scourge of Central India. The Go- 
vernor-General now determined to suppress these enemies 
of mankind ; and at the same time firmly to assert the 
supremacy of the British power over the Mahratta chiefs 
themselves, who had been encouraged by the Nepal war to 
conspire. Baji Rao, the Peshwa at Puna, was the head of 
this conspiracy : and Appa Saheb, the Raja of Barar at 
Nagpur, was one of the chief conspirators. 

Sindia submitted to the British, and his representatives 
are still Maharajas of Gwaliar. So did Amir Khan, the 
most prominent leader of the Pindaris ; and his descendants 
are still Nawabs of Tank. Baji Rao resisted, and even 
dared to attack and plunder the house of the British Resi- 
dent at Puna, November 1817; but he was soon put to 
flight, and after a long series of attempts to withstand the 
British arms, he was deposed. His dominions were annexed 



134 AN BAST INTRODUCTION TO 

to the British Empire, except a small tract around Satara 
which was given to the Raja who was the true representa- 
tive of Sivaji, 1818. Appa Saheb had attacked the Eng- 
lish at Nagpur shortly after Baji Rao had failed at Puna ; 
but he was easily defeated and taken prisoner, and ulti- 
mately he escaped to the Panjab, where he lived and died 
in utter obscurity among the Sikhs. 

After the submission of Amir Khan, all the other Pin- 
dari leaders were gradually conquered. The last of these 
was named Cliitu. He at one time took refuge among the 
troops of Holkar, who had murdered their Queen- Regent, 
Tulsi Bdi, because she was suspected of favouring the Eng- 
lish ; and had determined to resist the British arms. A 
great battle was fought at Mahidpur (December 1817), in 
which the Mahrattas and Pindaris of Holkar's army were 
utterly defeated by the English Generals Hislop&nd Malcolm. 
After this the young chief Maihar Rao Holkar made a &tb- 
sidiary treaty [see Chap. XXIV., 1] with the English. 
Chitu, the Pindari leader, fled from place to place, being 
gradually deserted by his followers ; till at length he was 
devoured by a tiger in the jungles near Asirgarh in 
Khandesh, 1819. 

The whole of the Mahratta country, and indeed the 
whole of Central India, had been reduced to order and 
submission during the course of this war. The Marquis of 
Hastings returned to England in 1823, accompanied by the 
applause of all. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

LORD AMHERST: THE FIRST BDRMAH WAR, AND THE STORMING 
OF BHARTPUR. A.D. 1823-1828. 

1. The First Burmah War. 2. The Storming of Bhartpur. 

1. The First Burmah War. Lord Amherst arrived in 
India as Governor-General a few months after the depar- 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 136 

tare of Lord Hastings : and he soon found it necessary to 
defend the British power in India against the insults with 
which it was threatened from the ignorance and folly of 
the King of Burmah. Burruah, as we have seen in 
Chap. I., is a country far away to the east of the Bay of 
Bengal, bejond Chittagong and the easternmost parts of 
Bengal ; and the Burmese are a people not at all like the 
Hindus, but somewhat like the Chinese. Until this year 
(1823) there had been hardly auy contact between the 
people of Burmah and the people ot India ; though in very 
early times Bnrmah had received its religion, which has 
always since been Buddhist, from India. The Burmese en- 
croachments of 182:5 have ultimately led to its annexation. 
The King of Burmah had been largely extending ms 
conquests in the countries on the north-east shores of the 
Bay of Bengal (see the Map). His armies had overrun the 
provinces of Arakau and Assam ; and his territories were 
now bounded on the west by the Bengal provinces belonging 
to the English. Not being fully acquainted with the irre- 
sistible power of the British Empire, he thought, at one 
time during the reign of Lord Hastings, that he might 
take advantage of the English being engaged in the Pindari 
war, and with impunity seize some of the Bengal terri- 
tories. He actually had the audacity to send a letter to 
Lord Hastings, demanding the cession of some of these 
territories, on the ground that they had formed part of the 
old kingdom of Arakan ; but Lord Hastings treated the 
letter as a forgery, and the King of Burmah finding that 
the English had conquered the Nepalese and their other 
enemies in India, was afraid to say that he had really sent 
the letter. In 1823, however, he proceeded to attack 
Kachar (the Raja of Kachar being in alliance with the 
English), and in other ways to show that he had no respect 
for the English power; so Lord Amherst determined to 
send an army into the Burmese territories in order to punish 
the King. Sir Archibald Campbell was the General of this 
army (1824) ; and he fought many battles with the troops 



136 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

of the King of Burmah, and thoroughly conquered them. 
The greatest and last of these battles was fought at a place 
called Pagahn; in which 2,000 British troops routed a 
Burmese army of 18,000. At length, when the British 
army was close to Amarapura, which was then the capital 
of Bnrmah, and the place where the royal palace was, the 
King of Burmah submitted, and signed a treaty called the 
Treaty of Yendabu ; by this treaty he agreed to givo up 
Arakan and several other rich provinces to the English, 
as well as a crore of rupees in money ; and he promised 
never again to claim any rights over Assam, Kachar, or 
Jaintia. 

2. The Storming of Bhartpur. In 1826, the fortress 
of Bhartpur was stormed by the British army under Lord 
Combermere, who was Commander-in-Chief under Lord 
Amherst. The only importance attached to this conquest 
was owing to the fact that many of the enemies of the 
English rule in India had believed, or pretended to beiieve, 
that Bhartpur was such a strong fortress that even the 
English could not take it. 

In 1827, Lord Amherst went to Dehli, and solemnly 
informed the King of Dehli (the representative of the old 
Mughul Emperors, who at this time was in receipt of a 
pension from the British Government) that the English 
were now the Paramount Power in India. Up to the period 
of this declaration, the representative of the Mughul Em- 
perors had been regarded as nominally the Lord Paramount 
of India, though his power had long before really passed 
into the hands of the British. 

Lord Amherst, one of the least eminent of the rulers 
of British India, retired in March 1828 ; and Mr. Butter- 
worth Bayley, one of the distinguished school of statesmen 
trained under the Marquis Wellesley, acted as Governor- 
until the arrival of his successor. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 137 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK : PEACE AND REFORMS. 
A.D. 18281835. 

1. Peaceful Character of this Reign. 2. Settlement of Mysore 
and Coorg. 3. Economical and Social Reforms. 

. 1. Peaceful Character of this Reign. Lord William 
Bentinck had formerly been Governor of Madras ; and he 
had been recalled in 1807. He was consequently anxious 
to have a chance of retrieving his reputation, by becoming 
Governor- General of India ; and he fully attained the 
object of his wishes, for his administration marks an era 
of peaceful improvement and progress in India. It com- 
rnenced in July 1828, and lasted until March 1835 ; and 
though not remarkable for any great military exploits, was 
distinguished by a large number of reforms, economical, 
judicial, and social, of far greater value and importance 
than any conquest. 

2. Settlement of Mysore and Coorg. "We must, how- 
ever, notice the one war that happened during this reign, 
which was the conquest of the little State of Coorg, ad- 
joining Mysore in Southern India. Its Raja was a mad 
tyrant, who slew every member of the royal family, and 
most cruelly oppressed the people ; and as he defied the 
British Government when called upon to amend, it was 
resolved to depose him. The war was a nominal one, 
and only lasted ten days ; the Raja was then sent as a 
prisoner to Benares, and the British rule was established 
throughout the province, 1833. 

The year before this, in 1832, it had been found neces- 
sary to put Mysore also under a British Officer, as the 
ministers of the Raja had been guilty of gross misgovern- 
ment. The country has subsequently prospered won- 



133 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

derfully. The Raja has since died, and the British Go- 
vernment has recognised the succession of his adopted son 
and heir, and restored him to full sovereignty. 

3. Economical and Social Reforms. Many important 
economical reforms were carried out by Lord William 
Bentinck in the civil and military administrations. Of 
these the one that provoked most opposition was the 
abolition of double batta. Double batta was an allowance 
given to the army when on service, in addition to their 
ordinary pay. The judicial reforms carried out at this 
time were of considerable importance, especially with 
reference to the extended employment of native judicial 
officers in responsible posts. 

Bat the reform for which Lord William Bentinck is 
most famous was the abolition of sati or suttee. This hor- 
rible custom (the self-immolation of widows on the funeral 
pile of their deceased husbands) had long been practised 
in India, though by many scholars it was believed not to 
be authorised by the Sastras. The Governor-General, 
aided by Mr. Butterworth Bayley and Sir Charles Metcalfe, 
his two councillors, at this time (December 1829) enacted 
that any person aiding or abetting a sati should be visited 
with the terrors of the law. The barbarous superstition is 
now nearly obsolete in India. 

In 1829, the Governor- General appointed Major Sleeman 
(afterwards Sir William Sleeman) as Commissioner for the 
suppression of thuggee. The thugs were bands of wretches, 
half-robbers and half-fanatics, who were in the habit of 
decoying away and murdering defenceless travellers, 
especially in the forests of Central India. They regarded 
this occupation, not only as a mode of getting money, but 
also as a part of their religion. Sleeman, however, suc- 
ceeded in almost entirely suppressing this horrible form of 
crime. 

A great Bengali reformer rose into eminence about this 
time. He was called Rammohan Rai : he was both a 
learned and a good man, and did his utmost to improve 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 139 

the condition of his countrymen in every way. At length 
the King of Dehli (who was much distressed at the humble 
condition to which he had been reduced by the declaration 
of Lord Amherst, see Chap. XXVII., 2) induced Bam- 
mohan Bai to proceed to England as his agent, to en- 
deavour to get better terms and a larger penson from the 
English Government ; and the great Bengali died at Bristol 
in 1833. 

Lord William Bentinck left India in May 1835 ; and 
Sir Charles Metcalfe took his place as Acting Governor- 
General, until the arrival of a successor in March 1836. 
Under Metcalfe, who was supported by the advice of 
Macaulay, all vexatious restrictions on the free action of 
the Press were removed. 



CHAPTEB XXIX. 

LORD AUCKLAND: THE AFGHAN WAR. 
1. State of Afghanistan 2. The Afghan War. 

1. State of Afghanistan: Lord Auckland succeeded 
as Governor-General in 1836. Afghanistan is a very 
mountainous country beyond the north-west frontiers of 
India. It lies next to the Panjab, from which it is sepa- 
rated by high mountains, crossed by very difficult and 
dangerous roads called passes. Through these roads over 
the mountains of Afghanistan have come most of the foreign 
invaders (such as Mahmiid of Ghazni, Muhammad Ghori, 
Timur, Babar, and Nadir Shah) that have at various times 
invaded India ; indeed, this is almost the only direction 
from which they can possibly come, unless they come in 
ships by sea. 

On this account, ever since the English have been the 
Paramount Power in India, the English Government has 
wished that the country of Afghanistan should be ruled 



140 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

over by princes friendly to the English power ; for then 
the Afghans would make it more difficult for any foreign 
enemy to disturb the peace of India. 

Now, until a short time before the time of Lord Auck. 
land, Afghanistan had been under the rule of the Durrani 
kings, descendants of Ahmad Shah Abddli or Durrani [see 
Chap. XV., 5] ; and in 1809, Lord Minto had made a 
treaty of friendship with Shah Shuja, the grandson of that 
Ahmad Shah. But lately, during the reign of Lord 
William Bentinck, Shah Shuji! had been driven out of the 
country by his brother, Mahmud ; and Mahmud had in his 
turn been murdered by the Barakzai tribe of Afghans ; so 
that when Lord Auckland came to be Governor-General 
of India, Dost Muhammad, the chief of the Barakzai Af- 
ghans, was the ruler of most of Afghanistan. Lord Auck- 
land at first tried to conciliate Dost Muhammad ; but when 
he found that that chief was not inclined to be friendly 
to the English, he determined to help Shah Shuja (who 
had all along been friendly, and who was now living as a 
British pensioner in India) to recover the throne of 
Afghanistan. 

2. The Afghan War. Lord Auckland took up the 
cause of Shah Shuja under the mistaken impression that 
he was really more popular amongst the people of Afghan- 
istan than Dost Muhammad ; so the army which he sent to 
invade Afghanistan was not a very strong one. Ranjit 
Singh, the old ' Lion of the Panjab ' as he was often called 
[see Chap. XXV., 3], promised to help Shah Shuja with 
the power of the Sikhs ; but he died soon after, and the 
Government of the Sikhs fell into disorder. 

The British army of invasion was commanded by Sir 
John Keane, accompanied by Mr. (afterwards Sir William) 
Macnaghten. They first marched to Kandahar, which is 
one of the capitals of Afghanistan, where Shah Shuja was 
solemnly put on the throne. Then they went on to Ghazni, 
which they found to be strongly fortified ; but they blew 
up one of the big gates with gunpowder, and then took the 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA, 141 



fortress by storm (1839). They then marched to 
which is the chief seat of the Afghan Government, and 
which they entered in August 1839 ; and now their task 
of restoring Shah Shuja was done, for Dost Muhammad 
had fled away to the wild country north of Afghanistan. 
Most of the army now returned to India, a portion remain- 
ing to settle the country under Shah Shuja ; and at the 
end of the following year (1840) Dost Muhammad gave 
himself up as a prisoner to Sir William Macnaghten. 

After this, for nearly a year, everything seemed peaceful. 
But, in December 1841, the whole of Afghanistan rose in 
insurrection against the small garrison of Indian troops, and 
at length the latter were so surrounded by innumerable and 
warlike enemies, that they were obliged to purchase a safe 
retreat by making the most humiliating promises and con- 
cessions. The chief leader of the Afghans was Alcbar Khan, 
a son of Dost Muhammad, and he, with the utmost baseness 
and treachery, shot Sir William Macnaghten at a confer- 
ence. The Indian army had not proceeded far in its retreat 
before the Afghans broke their solemn promises, and fell 
upon it. The British soldiers, both Europeans and sepoys, 
defended themselves as well as they could, and struggled 
on in the midst of the greatest privations, from the piercing 
cold of these snowy mountain-passes, from the want of food 
and clothing, and from the terrible difficulties of the roads. 
But the mountains that overhung all these passes were 
crowded with treacherous and ferocious Afghans, who kept 
up a murderous fire on the unprotected soldiers below, until 
at length, with the exception of a few ladies and married 
officers who surrendered themselves as prisoners to Akbar 
Khan, and one man who escaped to carry the news to Jala- 
labad, not a single man of the little army remained alive ! 

The melancholy disasters of this campaign, in which so 
many British soldiers and sepoys perished, spread a gloom 
over British India, which was not removed until the bril- 
liant successes of General Pollock and the conquest of 
Kabul under the next Governor- General restored the glory 



142 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

of the English arms. This has thrown a cloud over the repu- 
tation of Lord Auckland, which would otherwise have been 
an honourable one. His abilities were great, and before the 
commencement of the Afghan war, his good management 
had placed the finances of the country in a most flourishing 
condition. He left India in March 1842. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

LORD ELLENBOROUGH : THE CONQUEST OF KABUL AND THE 
ANNEXATION OF SINDH. 

A.D. 1842 1844. 

1. The Conquest of Kabul. 2. The Conquest of Sindh. 
3. War with Gwaliar. 

1. The Conquest of Kabul. Lord Ellenborough succeeded 
Lord Auckland as Govern or- General, and arrived in Cal- 
cutta in March 1842. It was now clearly seen that the 
people of Afghanistan preferred Dost Muhammad to Shah 
Shuja as their king ; indeed, Shah Shuja shortly after this 
was shot by the Afghans at Kabul, and his body thrown 
into a ditch. So the British Government determined that 
the Afghans should be severely punished for their treachery 
and hostility to the British army, but that in future they 
should be allowed to choose what king they liked without 
any interference from India. 

During the whole of the time occupied by the miserable 
retreat of the British army from Kabul described in the 
last chapter, and during the whole of the spring of 1842, a 
gallant little band of heroes, under a brave general, named 
Sale, had defended themselves in a ricketty Afghan fortress, 
called Jalalabad, against countless hosts of Afghans, under 
the murderer Akbar Khan. They had to contend against 
innumerable difficulties, for after they had slightly repaired 
the fortifications an earthquake threw them down again. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 

But the 'Illustrious Garrison, as they have often been 
called, once more repaired the breaches in the walls, and 
not only defended the fort, but even sallied forth, routed 
Akbar Khan and his thousands of Afghans, and burnt their 
camp. Another little detachment of British troops held' 
out in like manner at Kandahar, under General Nott, all 
through the long winter and spring. At length, when the 
returning warmth of summer had melted the snow in the 
passes, and rendered it possible for an Indian army to 
march again into Afghanistan, General Pollock, at the head 
of a number of English soldiers and Indian sepoys, forced 
his way through the Khaibar Pass, which is the name of 
the very difficult and dangerous road over the mountains 
between Peshawar in the Panjab and Jalalabad in Afghan* 
istan. General Pollock soon rescued the ' Illustrious Gar- 
rison ' of Jalalabad, and then marched on against Kabul. 
Another army had been sent from India through the Bolan 
Pass (the road over the mountains into the north of Bilu- 
chistan, just south of Afghanistan) to rescue General Nott 
and his soldiers, who were in Kandahar, and General Nott 
being joined by this new army, took Ghazni, and utterly 
destroyed that fortress, and then marched on to meet Ge- 
neral Pollock at Kabul. The great bazar of Kabul was 
utterly destroyed, as a punishment to the Afghans for their 
treachery, and when all resistance throughout the country 
had been crushed, every important fortress captured, and 
the English prisoners rescued, it was determined to evacuate 
the country. The army marched back quietly through the 
dominions of the Sikhs to Firuzpur in British territory ; it 
had completely restored the glory of the English arms, 
and vindicated the honour of the English Government., 
Dost Muhammad and the other Afghan prisoners were set 
at liberty. 

2. The Conquest of Sindh. During the troubles of the 
Afghan war, the Amirs of Sindh had shown many signs of 
hostility to the English, so Lord Ellenborough now deter- 
mined to teach them the folly of such conduct. 



144 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

NOTE. Sindh, which is the part of India nearest to the Bolan Pass 
and Baluchistan, had been conquered in 1786 by a fierce tribe of Baluchi s 
from the mountains of Baluchistan on the western frontier. The 
Amirs of Sindh were the descendants of these Baluchi conquerors, and 
lived as feudal nobles in fortified castles, often cruelly oppressing the 
'conquered people. They were at all times very jealous of the British 
power, and tried to prevent any trade being carried on between Sindh 
and the British Indian dominions. 

Sir Charles Napier was sent as Commander-in- Chief to 
Sindh, with orders to find out clearly whether the Amirs 
were really inclined to be friendly or hostile to the English. 
Soon afterwards, however, a large Sindh force attacked the 
house of Major (afterwards Sir James) Outram, and thus 
commenced the short Sindh war. Sir Charles Napier ut. 
terJy routed the Amirs and all their forces in two great 
battles, first at Miani and afterwards at Haidardbdd (both 
these towns are in Sindh). It was then decided that Sindh 
should be annexed to the British dominions, and that the 
Amirs should be sent to Benares as State prisoners. ThiS ex- 
tremely severe sentence was believed by many to be very 
unjust ; and it was thought that Lord Ellenborough ought 
to have restored the Amirs to power after punishing them 
for their treachery. As far as the poor inhabitants of Sindh 
were concerned, the change was certainly a most happy one, 
and the country has since greatly increased in wealth and 
prosperity. 

3. War with Gwaliar. During the Afghan and Sindh 
wars, the Mahrattas in Gwaliar had been growing turbu- 
lent. There was an immense and highly-disciplined army 
there, and the young Sindia (every Maharaja of Gwaliar is 
tailed Sindia) was only a little boy. A quarrel as to who 
should be Sindia' s guardian and regent of Gwaliar now threat- 
ened to plunge Central India into the horrors of a Mah- 
ratta civil war, so Lord Ellenborough resolved to interfere, 
and marched two armies towards Gwaliar, expecting that 
the Mahrattas wculd immediately submit. The two divi- 
sions of the Gwaliar army, however, confident in their gi-eat 
numbers and their fine artillery, ventured to resist, and two 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 145 

great battles were fought on the same day, December 20, 
1843 ; one at Mahdrdjpur, and the other at Pannidr. In both 
of these battles the English arms were completely tri- 
umphant, and all the guns, ammunition, and treasures of 
the Mahrattas were captured. Ever since that period, tho 
Maharaja of Gwaliar has been a loyal feudatory of the Bri- 
tish Crown. 

Lord Ellenborough had had many differences of opinion 
with the Directors of the East India Company, and in Fe- 
bruary 1844i he was suddenly recalled. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

LORD HARDINGE : AND THE FIRST sfKH WAR 

A.D. 1844 1848, 
8 1. The First Sikh War. ^ 2. Social Reforms. 

1. The First Sikh War. Since the death of Ranjit Singh 
in 1839, the Panjab had been in a dreadful state of anar- 
chy and confusion. There had been numerous assassina- 
tions amongst the survivors of Ranjit's family and 
Ministers of State, and many revolutions; and at last 
Dhulip Singh, the son of Ranjit by his favourite wife 
Chand Kaur, was set up as Maharaja. The great Sikh 
Sarda^ or Chiefs formed themselves into a Council of 
State, and the name of the 'Khalsa ' (the pure) was given 
to the whole Government. But in 1845 the disorder was 
as bad as ever, the Maharani Chand Kaur and the other 
Sikh leaders were all intriguing for supreme power, while 
the strong and well-disciplined Sikh army was turbulent 
and anxious for war. 

In the meantime, Sir Henry Hardinge (afterwards Vis- 
count Hardinge) had been appointed Governor-General ; 
he landed in India in 1844, and left it in 1847. He had 
greatly distinguished himself in the wars of Europe 
against the French, particularly in the Peninsular Wai> 

L 



246 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

and in the great battle of Waterloo, where he had lost an 
arm. The new Governor- General refused to interfere in 
the affairs of the Panjab, and was sincerely anxious to 
maintain peace with the Sikhs ; when suddenly the Sikh 
army of its own accord invaded British territory by cross- 
ing the Satlej, which was at that time the boundary be- 
tween the English ard the Sikh dominions, December 
1845. It is believed that the Sikh leaders induced their, 
army to do this in order to relieve themselves from the 
fear of its turbulence. 

Sir Hugh Gough, the Commander- in- Chief, joined 
afterwards by the Governor-General, immediately marched 
against the Sikhs, and though much inferior in numbers, 
within a fortnight drove them back across the Satlej, after 
two sanguinary battles at Mudki and Firiizshahr,* both of 
which places are near Firuzpur and close to the frontier 
of the Panjab. Unfortunately the English army was 
deficient in ammunition, in guns, and in stores of all kjnds, 
and consequently Sir Hugh Gough was unable fully to 
follow up the glorious victory of Firuzshahr. And in the 
meantime the Sikhs again crossed the Satlej in great force 
and with seventy guns. At length, however, Sir Harry 
Smith was sent forward with a small body of troops. He 
met Gulab Singh with a strong force of Sikhs at Baddiwal, 
but was unable to attack him, whilst the British troops 
suffered from the Sikh fire. This was regarded by the 
Sikhs as a victory; so Sir Harry Smith, having in the 
meantime obtained some reinforcements, marched out to 
attack the enemy on January 28, 1846, at ALIWAL. The 
British infantry, by their steady advance drove the Sikhs 
into the river ; the latter lost fifty-six guns and immense 
quantities of ammunition and stores of all kinds. Gnlab 
Singh, who had been very confident in the final success of 
the Sikh arms, now gave up hope, and commenced nego- 
tiations with the English leaders ; whilst the Cis-Satlej 
States immediately declared in favour of the British. 
* Often called in histories Ferozeshah. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 147 

Sir Harry Smith, now formed a junction with Sir Hngh 
Gough ; and the latter determined to force the passage of 
the Satlej, and to take possession of the Panjab. The Sikhs 
had entrenched themselves on both sides of the Satlej, 
at SOBRAON, above Firiizpnr. The Commander- in-Chief, 
having received a siege-train from Dehli and plenty of 
ammunition and supplies, drew up his forces in the form 
of a crescent along the Sikh front, and commenced the 
attack before daybreak on February 10, 1846. For three 
hours there was a terrific cannonade on both sides ; and 
then Sir Hugh Gough ordered the British troops to charge 
the entrenchments of the enemy. Tej Singh fled ; but 
the aged Sham Singh, in white garments, devoted himself 
to death as a martyr for the Guru, and fell at length on a 
heap of his slain countrymen. Many thousands of Sikhs 
gallantly fell at their posts ; .-ind it was not till after two 
hours' fierce fighting at C!OL>J quarters that the shattered 
remnants of the Khalsa army fled in helpless confusion 
across the Satlej, under the deadly fire of the British 
artillery. 

Three days later (February 13, 1846) the whole British 
army crossed the Satlej ; and on February 14 Sir Henry 
Hardinge issued a proclamation, announcing the intentions 
of the British Government which were singularly moderate. 
An interview was accorded to Gulab Singh, the chosen 
representative of the Khalsa and the leading Sikh chiefs 
at Kasur ; and ultimately the young Dhulip Singh per- 
sonally made his submission, the citadel of Lahore wa> 
occupied by the British troops, and the conntry submitted 
on the terms imposed by the conquerors. Sufficient tre>- 
sure for the payment of all the war-expenses was noc 
forthcoming, so Kashmir and Hazara were retained ; and 
ultimately Kashmir was formed into an independent State 
under Gulab Singh of Jammu, who in return paid one 
million sterling towards this indemnity. 

2. Social Reforms. After all these great and bloody 
Wars, in which the armies of Sindh, of Gwaliar, and of 

L2 



X48 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

the Sikhs had been successively annihilated, India enjoyed 
peace for nearly two years ; and Lord Hardinge was able 
to apply himself to those humane efforts for the suppression 
of cruel customs, with which his name is honourably con, 
nected. The horrible crimes of thuggee, infanticide, sati, 
and human sacrifices were still prevalent in many parts ot 
India. Of the last the most important were the Meriah 
sacrifices in Gumsar, amongst the Khands and other ab- 
original tribes of Orissa, Gondwana, and the hills and 
forests of Central India. These are now suppressed. 
Free trade was at this time promoted by the abolition of 
octroi duties, that is, of taxes paid for importing food 
and other merchandise into some of the large towns of 
India. 

Lord Hardinge left Calcutta early in 1848. During 
his short administration he had gained the affections of all 
classes ; and his name will always be remembered with 
respect as that of a skilful and gallant soldier, and b no 
less able and beneficent politician. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

LORD DALHOUSIE : THE SECOND SfKH WAR. 
A.D. 1848 1856. 

1. The Second Sikh War. 2. The Annexations of Pegu, 
Nagpur. and Oudh. 3. Social Progress in India under Lord Dal- 
housie's rule. 

1. The Second Sikh War. The Earl of Dalhousie was 
appointed to succeed Lord Hardinge, in the hope that he 
Avonld be able to secure peace to India after the recent 
bloody wars. His administration lasted from 1848 to 1856, 
nnd is chiefly famous for the vast additions made to the 
British Indian Empire, by the annexations of the Panjab, 
of Pegu in Burmah, of Oudh. of Tanjor, of Uagpur, of 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 149 

Satara, and of Jhansi. The policy of increasing the British 
Empire in India by annexing other States, though not 
originated by Lord Dalhousie, was carried to the greatest 
extent by him. This policy was generally adopted out of 
pity for the oppressed inhabitants of the States annexed ; 
but it has long been abandoned by the Government. 

The turbulence of the Sikhs soon made it clear to the 
new Governor-General that another Sikh war was inevitable; 
and he determined to prosecute it with vigour, and to 
take possession of the Panjab, so as to render it impossible 
for the Sikh soldiery again to disturb the peace of India. 
The speech, which he is said to have made on coming 
to this conclusion, is a famous one : ' I have wished for 
peace ; I have longed for it ; I have striven for it. But if 
the enemies of India desire war, war they shall have ; and 
on my word, they shall have it with a vengeance ! ' 

The outbreak of the Sikhs began in Multan, where two 
British officers were assassinated and preparations made 
for defending the fortress ; and the flame of insurrection 
soon spread throughout the Panjab. A young English- 
man, named Lieutenant Edwardes (afterwards Sir Herbert 
Edwardes), who was stationed near Multan, immediately 
collected some troops and prepared to attack Multan ; and 
soon the Commander-in-Chief of the British army, Lord 
Gough, was in the field with a large force. Multan wa? 
taken by storm, and after a bloody and indecisive battle ai 
Chillianwallah, Lord Gough succeeded in utterly defeating 
the Sikh army in the victory of GUJARAT (February 1849), 
which is a small town in the Doab between the Chenab 
and the Jhelam. The Sikhs had been joined by a powerful 
body of Afghan cavalry, who had been sent to help them by 
Dost Muhammad, the old foe of the English. The battle 
of Gujarat was remarkable, because it was won almost 
entirely by the tremendous fire of the English artillery. 
For two days a terrific storm of cannon-balls and sheila 
pounded the Sikh lines, and cut down the brave Sikhs by 
thousands ; till at last the whole Sikh army fled before the 
English troops. All that remained were at last compelled 



150 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

to give themselves up at various places in the Panjab as 
prisoners to the English. Amongst those who surrendered 
was Sher Singh, the chief Skh commander ; and a brave 
English General named Gilbert, who was one of the best 
of the leaders under Lord Gongh, chased Dost Muham- 
mad's Afghan cavalry across the Indus and as far as the 
entrance to the Khaibar Pass. 

Lord Dalhousie determined to annex the Panjab to the 
British Indian Empire, now that the Sikhs were thoroughly 
defeated ; for he saw that that brave people, as long as 
they were ill-governed, would be a continual source of 
trouble both to the Panjab and to Hindustan. The Maha- 
raja Dhulip Singh signed a treaty in full Darbar, by which 
he gave up the sovereignty to the English, receiving in 
return a large pension ; and he has since lived a quiet and 
useful life in England as an English landowner. The 
Panjab was put under the rule of a Board of English Com- 
missioners ; of whom Sir Henry Lawrence was the "chief, 
and his brother, John Lawrence (afterwards Lord Law- 
rence, and Governor-General of India) was the second. 
Ever since that time it has been well and justly governed ; 
the Sikhs have been some of the most loyal subjects of 
the British Crown, and the Panjab has rapidly grown in 
wealth and importance. 

2. The Anneratious of Pegu, Ndgpur, and Oudh. 
Other annexations soon followed that of the Panjab. The 
second Burmese War, which broke out in 1852, was caused 
by the arrogance of the King of Ava, who was so foolish 
as to think that he might insult and injure British subjects 
with impunity ; and the result was, that all the maritime 
provinces of Burmah (called Pegu, which is now a part of 
the flourishing chief-coinaiassionership of British Burmah) 
were conquered and annexed in 1852 to the other pro- 
vinces that had been ceded to the English in the First 
Burmese War. In the following year, 1853, Ndgpur was 
also annexed, because the Mahratta Raja had died without 
heirs and without having adopted a son. 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 151 

In 1856, the great and populous kingdom of Oudh was 
also annexed. By the treaty of 1801, it had been placed 
under the protection of the British, and the King had been 
guaranteed security as long as he ruled well and peaceably. 
But the Government had gone from bad to worse ; and the 
anarchy and oppression in Oudh had been such as to 
endanger the peace of the surrounding British districts. 
The sufferings of the people themselves were terrible ; and 
the British guarantee prevented their rising in insurrection 
with any prospect of success. Every dictate of humanity 
and prudence was in favour of annexation ; Lord Dal- 
housie advised it, with the unanimous consent of his 
Council. The Home Government ordered that the pro- 
vince should be annexed ; and the ex- king was transferred 
to Calcutta with a pension. 

3. Social Progress in India under Lord Dalhousie's 
Rule. A wonderful degree of progress marks the adminis- 
tration of Lord Dalhousie, both in civilisation and material 
prosperity. The first Indian Railway was opened in 1853 ; 
and railways and telegraph-lines began rapidly to spread 
over the whole country. Vast schemes of education were 
set on foot ; Universities were ordered to be founded ; and 
the Presidency College in Calcutta was established in 1855. 
Gigantic schemes of Public Works, too, of a useful kind 
such as great public buildings, roads, and canals were 
planned, and large sums of money borrowed for them. 
The crime of extracting evidence from accused persons by 
torturing them was stringently put down; and earnest 
endeavours were made to do fnll justice to all classes in 
this great empire. Indeed, during the brilliant and vigo- 
rous administration of Lord Dalhousie, which lasted eight 
years, from 1848 to 1856, was thoroughly inaugurated that 
equitable and honourable system of governing India with 
a single view to the happiness and prosperity of the people 
which has been conscientiously followed up by every suc- 
ceeding Governor- General. 

Lord Dalhousie left Calcutta on the 6th of March 1856 



152 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

His health was utterly broken down by his labours and 
anxieties, and he died within a few years ; but his fame 
will always endure as one of the greatest of the Governors- 
General of British India. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

LORD CANNING: THE SEPOY MUTINY. 
A.D. 1856-1862. 

1. The Sepoy Mutiny, its Causes and Nature. 2. The Extent 
of the Mutiny. 3. The Fidelity of the Indian Chiefs and Peoples. 
4. Summary of the Events of the Mutiny. 5. Meerut and 
Delhi. 6. Cawnpore. 7. Lucknow. 8. Sir Hugh Rose in 
Central India. 9. The Persian and China Wars. 10. The 
Abolition of the East India Company's Rule, 11. The Queen's 
Gracious Proclamation. 

A 

1. The Sepoy Mutiny. Lord Canning was appointed to 
succeed Lord Dalhousie as Governor-General ; and he 
arrived in Calcutta on the 29th of February, 1856. The 
history of his administration is chiefly connected with the 
'Sepoy Mutiny,' which broke out in 1857, and which 
resulted in the abolition of the rule of the East India Com- 
pany, and in the assumption of the direct government of 
India by Her Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great 
Britain and Ireland and Empress of India. The broad 
general points, in regard to the nature and causes of the 
great Mutiny, that should be remembered by the student, 
are: 

Except perhaps in Ondh, the rising was strictly a 
mutiny, not a rebellion i.e., it was an insurrection of 
traitorous soldiers of the Native Bengal Army, and was 
rarely joined in by any other part of the population except 
through fear or under compulsion. For some time the 
discipline of the Sepoy army had been lax; and some of 
the bolder among the Sepoys had grown to believe that the 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA, 153 

rule of the East India Company depended on them alone. 
And then, a few clever intriguers, desperate men who hoped 
to gain by the anarchy and disorder which would follow the 
subversion of the British power, encouraged these foolish 
men to rebel ; and at the same time they aroused the pre- 
judices and the fears of the more ignorant among the 
Sepoys, by circulating absurd rumours regarding the in- 
tentions of the Government. 

The wicked men who thus deceived their poorer fellow- 
countrymen, and led them into disgrace and ruin, were in 
many cases those who hoped to regain that power of op- 
pressing their subjects that had been taken away from 
them by the Government. Perhaps the worst of all was 
the miscreant Dundhu Pant, called also the Nana Saheb, 
who will always be infamous as the author of the grea< 
massacre of helpless prisoners including 125 women and 
children, who were slaughtered and their bodies thrown 
into a well at Cawnpore. The Nana was the adopted son 
of the last Peshwa ; and, encouraged by a wily secretary 
named Azimullah, and a clever soldier named Tantia Topi, 
hoped to restore the power of the Peshwas over the Mah- 
ratta peoples. 

The old King of Delhi, too, and his sons though the 
family had long been pensioners of the Company enter- 
tained a foolish hope of being able to restore the Mughul 
dynasty. 

Some members of the family of the dethroned King of 
Oudh, and some of the Oudh chiefs, desired a return to the 
old days of despotic government and misrule in Oudh ; and 
a lady of that family, commonly known as the Begum of 
Oadh, proved one of the most obstinate of the rebels. 

Another lady, the Rani of Jhansi, believed she had just 
cause of complaint against the Government of the Com- 
pany ; and she, at a later stage of the Mutiny, in combina- 
tion with Tantia Topi, induced the troops of the Maharaja 
Sindia to rebel againt their Maharaja, who was a faithful 
supporter of the Government. 



154 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

Joined with the foregoing were all those who were 
disaffected against the Government, all those who hoped 
for plunder, criminals who hoped to escape from justice, 
and debtors who hoped to kill their creditors. These com- 
bined to inflame both the patriotic and the religious senti- 
ments of the Sepoys, by circulating absurd rumours. They 
pretended that the Government intended to annex every 
native State in India, and to confiscate the land ; but what 
had most effect was the ridiculous pretence that the 
Government wished to destroy the religions of Hindus and 
Muhammadana, and to force all to become Christians. The 
educated could not believe these fables ; but the ignorant 
Sepoys were misled by them. Early in 1857 a new kind 
of rifle was introduced into the Indian Army, of which the 
cartridges (i.e., the packets containing the gunpowder 
and ball) had to be greased before they were put into the 
rifle to load it ; and the Sepoys were told by these wicked 
traitors that the cartridges had been greased with tne fat 
of pigs, so as to defile both the Musalmans and the Hindus. 
Other foolish stories were invented ; as, for example, that 
the flour served out to some of the troops for food had 
been adulterated with bone-dust. The story about the 
greased cartridges originated in Lower Bengal, but it soon 
spread to every military station in India. 

2. The Extent of the Mutiny. The chief strength of 
the Mutiny was in the great military stations of Oudh 
and the North- Western Provinces, and the adjacent dis- 
tricts. During the height of the military revolt its centre 
was at first at Delhi ; then, for a short ti*ne longer, at 
Lucknow ; and subsequently in various districts of Central 
India, Oudh, and Rohilkhand. 

In the Panjab, the Sikhs, both chiefs and people, were 
splendidly loyal ; they showed the most conspicuous 
bravery in aiding to suppress the revolt ; and so also did 
many Pathans and other Panjabis. The Panjab contained a 
greater number of troops than any other province. But, 
fortunately, it was under the rule of Sir John Lawrence, 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 155 

a statesman of great courage and ability ; and under him 
were some other equally able and devoted Englishmen, of 
whom the greatest, perhaps, was General John Nicholson. 
These men promptly disarmed the disaffected regiments 
among their troops, and sent the greater part of the 
English regiments and the loyal Sikhs and Panjabis to 
Delhi under General Nicholson. 

The Madras and Bombay troops were for the most part 
' true to their salt,' and refused , to rebel. Some Madras 
regiments, almost unaided, repulsed a furious sudden 
attack that was made by some Rohilla desperadoes on the 
Residency at Haidarabad. And Lord Elphinstone, the 
Governor of Bombay, having suppressed all disturbances 
in the Bombay territories, was ultimately able to spare 
troops to aid in the pacification of Central India. 

The great State of Haidarabad in the south of India, 
with the exception of the above-mentioned outbreak, was 
maintained in loyal tranquillity, chiefly by the ability 
and fidelity of the Nizam's Prime Minister, Sir Salar 
Jang. 

In Lower Bengal the Sepoys at many of the military 
stations mutinied ; but they received no support from the 
Zamindars or the people, and generally dispersed to their 
homes without causing serious danger. 

3. The Fidelity of the Indian Chiefs and Peoples. 
I have already spoken of the loyalty of the Sikhs and 
Panjabis, which was almost general throughout that pro- 
vince. Many of the Sikh Rajahs and Sardars armed their 
retainers, and put themselves at the disposal of the authori- 
ties. Conspicuous among them was the Raja Sir Randhir 
Singh of Kapurthala, and his valiant brother, the Sardar 
Bikram Singh. They established order throughout the 
Jalandhar Doab, and then volunteered for service in Oudh, 
whither they marched at the head of 2,000 men, and 
during a year's campaigning fought no less than six 
battles with the rebels. The Raja of Patiala sent his 
troops to Delhi, where they kept open the communications 



156 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

along the Grand Trunk Road ; and he also sent contingents 
of Sikhs to Gwaliar and Dholpur. 

In Rajpntana, where the Government was represented 
by a brave and capable brother of Sir John Lawrence, 
named George Lawrence, many of the chiefs rendered valu- 
able aid to the cause of order ; and the Maharaja of 
Jaipur was especially zealous in his loyalty. So in Central 
India, the Maharaja Sindia of Gwaliar was conspicuous for 
his fidelity, which at one time exposed him to great danger 
from his own mutinous soldiers. 

In Oudb, on the other hand, many of the great chiefs 
thought themselves ill-nsed by the Government of the 
Company so recently established ; and the influence of the 
family of the deposed king was considerable. But, even 
here, several of the greatest Talukdars, of whom the chief 
was the Maharaja of Balrampur, put themselves at the 
head of their retainers, and fought against the rebels. 

The Ghurkas of Nepal, under Jang Bahadur, also*ren- 
dered efficient aid to the Government, and a powerful force 
of these brave troops helped in the capture of Lucknow 
and in the pacification of Oudh. I have already noticed 
the fidelity of Sir Salar Jang and the State of Haidarabad. 

4. Summary of the Events of the Mutiny. The troubled 
time of the Mutiny may be divided into five sections, 
thus 

(1) The outbreak of the Mutiny at Meerut (or Mirath) 
on the 10th May, 1857 ; and the massacres of the Euro- 
peans by the Sepoys at Meerut, Delhi, Cawnpore, and 
elsewhere in Northern and Central India. 

(2) The Siege of Delhi (June to September), the 
storming of that fortress by the British troops on the 
14th of September, and the complete conquest of the city 
by the 20th of September, 1857, before the arrival of the 
expected reinforcements from England. 

(3) The defence of the Residency of Lucknow by the 
English residents, and its first relief by the troops under 
Havelock and Outram, 25th September, 1857. 



THE HISTORY OP INDIA. 157 

(4) The second relief of Lucknow by Sir Colin Camp- 
bell (afterwards Lord Clyde) in November, 1857; thearrival 
of reinforcements, and the suppression of the Mutiny in 
Oudh and the neighbouring districts of Hindustan, during 
the latter part of 1857, and the early part of 1858. 

(5) The campaigns of Sir Hugh Rose (afterwards 
Lord Strathnairn) in Central India ; the death of the 
Rani of Jhansi, the capture of Tantia Topi, and the 
destruction or flight of the other rebels, in 1858. The last 
mutineers were driven into the jungles of Nepal early in 
1859. 

5. Meerut and Delhi. When the outbreak of the 
Mutiny occurred at Meerut, three Bengal regiments re- 
volted, murdered all the Europeans they came across, 
burnt the bungalows, and then marched away to Delhi. 
In another part of the station there was a large European 
force ; but, either through some mistake, or else by the 
unaccountable folly of the General, nothing was done to 
stop or punish the rebels. At Delhi they were joined by 
the troops there, who committed the same atrocities, and 
then proclaimed the old Mughul King of Delhi as Padishah 
of India. 

In most of the other military stations of that part of 
India, similar scenes of horror were enacted. The Sepoys 
very generally professed loyalty, and their English officers 
refused to suspect them ; until at last, led astray by the pre- 
vailing epidemic, the Sepoys suddenly rose, murdered the 
Europeans and burnt their houses, seized the treasury, 
broke open the gaol, plundered the bazaar, and marched 
off to Delhi, looting as they went. This was the usual 
course of the atrocities. 

In June 1857 a small force of British troops appeared 
before Delhi, and the siege nominally began. But within 
were gathered an immensely superior force of rebels, 
sheltered behind the stupendous walls of that vast fortress, 
and furnished with inexhaustible supplies of ammunition 
and stores. At length, however, some heavy guns arrived 



158 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

for battering the walls ; and in August, General Nicholson 
appeared on the scene, with the reinforcements from the 
Panjab. In the assault that followed, on September 14th, 
Nicholson fell mortally wounded ; but he was the real 
captor of Delhi. The old King of Delhi was captured, 
brought to trial, and transported across the sea to Rangoon, 
where he afterwards died. Two of his sons and a grand- 
son were shot, and most of the leaders of the mutineers 
were either shot, or hanged, or blown away from cannon. 

6. Cawnpore. I have already referred to the most 
horrible tragedy of the Mutiny, the Cawnpore massacre.. 
Here a large number of Europeans, including 125 women 
and children, had surrendered to the vast army of the 
Sepoys under the Nana Saheb, on a promise of safe conduct 
from the latter as far as Allahabad. But the men had no 
sooner got into their boats than they were fired on by the 
rebels, and exterminated ; only four strong swimmers suc- 
ceeded in escaping, by swimming down the Ganges,*until 
they were rescued by the loyal Raja Digbijai Singh of 
Murarmau. The women and children were kept close 
prisoners for a further term, and were at last hacked to 
pieces and their mangled remains thrown into a well, just 
as Havelock's victorious force was approaching to punish 
the murderers. 

7. Lucknow. A little earlier than this tragedy, and 
soon after the commencement of the siege of Delhi, a 
struggle, perhaps the most glorious of the whole war, 
commenced at Lucknow. Sir Henry Lawrence, brother 
of Sir John Lawrence and G-eorge Lawrence, was the Chief 
Commissioner of Oudh ; and was one of the ablest and 
most heroic men that India has ever known. He had 
made some preparation for the coming danger by strength- 
ening the defences of the Residency, and by storing it 
with ammunition and provisions ; and thither he brought, 
at the beginning of July, all the European residents with 
their wives and children, together with a few faithful 
Indians. The whole country round was crowded with 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 159 

armed rebels ; but the handful of heroes in the Residency 
held out for nearly three months, though overwhelmed 
by the most dreadful privations and sufferings. Sir 
Henry Lawrence had been killed by the bursting of a 
shell, only a few days after the beginning of the siege but 
the defence was still maintained with the utmost gallantry. 
At length Havelock, after having thrice crossed the Ganges, 
and after having gained innumerable victories, forced his 
way through the besieging force, and got into Lucknow on 
the 2 5th of September. The chivalrous Sir James Outramhad 
been sent to take command of the relieving army, but he 
generously refused to supersede Havelock until the city 
had been relieved ; and thus the latter had the pleasure of 
himself accomplishing that for which he had dared and 
endured so much. He had not sufficient force, however, 
to bring away the garrison, and had to sustain a second 
siege until finally relieved by Sir Colin Campbell (after- 
wards Lord Clyde) in November, 1857. 

8. Sir Hugh Rose in Central India. During the year 
1858, the Mutiny was gradually crushed in all quarters, 
and the remaining bands of mutineers were everywhere 
hunted down, and killed or dispersed. This work was 
carried out in Ondh and Rohilkhand, where alone the 
population had joined the rebellions troops, with great 
patience and efficiency by Lord Clyde. And at the same 
time Sir Hugh Rose had been selected to lead an army 
from Bombay, which marched up and down through the 
length and breadth of Central India, captured Tantia 
Topi after he had long evaded pursuit, and defeated the 
Rani of Jhansi, who fell gallantly fighting at the head of 
her troops. The loyal Maharaja Sindia was restored to 
his throne, and the rebellious Gwaliar contingent, with all 
the other remnants of the mutinous forces, were finally 
conquered and punished. 

9. The Persian and China Wars. Two short foreign 
wars, one against Persia and the other against China, had 
been waged during 1857 by British Indian troops. The 



160 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

English arms were entirely successful in, each case ; and the 
wars were only of importance because the conclusion of 
the Persian expedition, and the fact that English troops 
were passing near India on their way to China, opportunely 
furnished the Calcutta Government with reinforcements to 
send to the disturbed districts in the North-West of India. 

10. The Abolition of the East India Company's Rule. 
One of the results of the troubles and dangers of the Sepoy 
Mutiny was that the English Parliament determined that 
the British Empire in India should no longer be left in 
the hands of the East India Company ; but that it should 
be placed directly under the control of Her Gracious 
Majesty Queen Victoria, and should be governed by a 
Viceroy (or representative of the Queen) in India, and by a 
Secretary of State in .England. In consequence of this 
change, Lord Canning became the first Viceroy of British 
India, and every Governor-General now bears that higher 
title. 

11. The Queen's Gracious Proclamation. One of the 
last public acts of Lord Canning was the bestowal of 
Sanads on the Feudatory Princes of India who had dis- 
tinguished themselves by their loyalty to the British Crown. 
By these Sanads the Indian Chiefs were constituted feudal 
Princes of the Indian Empire, and were guaranteed the 
peaceable enjoyment of their dominions and all their rights 
and privileges, including the right to adopt a son and heir 
in case of failure of male issue, provided that they faith- 
fully fulfilled all the promises they had made to the British 
Government, and maintained their loyalty to their Gracious 
Sovereign. 

The Proclamation by which Queen Victoria took the 
millions of India under Her Gracious protection, and pro- 
mised to govern them according to those beneficent maxims 
which have always distinguished British rule, was trans- 
lated into all the vernacular languages of India, and was 
read in every station and in every native Court on the 1st 
of November, 1858. Her Majesty's kind words, full of 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 161 

grace and dignity, doubtless did much to reassure the 
minds of the people, and to convince them that the inten- 
tions of their English rulers were as just and benevolent as 
their military strength had recently proved to be irresistible. 
The closing words of that Proclamation are especially 
memorable : ' When by the blessing of Providence the 
internal tranquillity shall be restored, it is Our earnest 
desire to stimulate the peaceful industry of India, to pro- 
mote works of public utility and improvement, and to 
administer its Government for the benefit of all Our sub- 
jects resident therein. In their prosperity will be Our 
strength, in their contentment Our security, and in their 
gratitude Our best reward. And may the God of all 
power grant to Us, and to those in authority under Us, 
strength to carry out these Our wishes for the good of 
Our people.' 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE VICEROYS OF INDIA UNDER THE BRITISH CROWN. 
A.D. 1588 1900. 

1. Lord Canning and Lord Elgin. 2. Lord Lawrence and Lord 
Mayo. 3. Lord Northbrook. 4. Lord Lytton. 5. Lord Eipon. 6. 
Lord Dufferin. 7. Lord Lansdowne. 8. Lord Elgin and Lord Curzon. 

I. Lord Canning and Lord Elgin. The restoration of 
peace and order in 1859 enabled Lord Canning to turn his 
attention to internal reforms ; and in the years 1860 and 
1861 respectively, he passed into law the famous Penal 
Code that had been originally drafted by Macaulay, and 
the Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure. In 1859 had 
been passed a great Rent Act for Bengal known as 
Act X, of 1859 which was intended to protect the culti- 
vating tenant from unjust enhancement of rent by the 
Zaminddr ; it produced much litigation between landlords 
and their tenants in Bengal, and opinions differ as to its 

M 



162 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

merits as a reform. The last remark will also apply to 
the provisions of the Police Act, passed by Lord Canning 
in 1861 ; bnt all this legislation was introduced by the 
Viceroy from the most benevolent motives. Lord Canning 
retired in March 1862. He died almost immediately after 
his arrival in England, and was buried in Westminster 
Abbey which is the highest honour that can be paid to a 
deceased Englishman. 

Lord Elgin succeeded ; but died at Dharmsala in the 
Himalaya mountains after a brief rule of eighteen months. 
An expedition against the Wahabi fanatics on the Hazara 
frontier of tho Panjab was the most important event of 
his Viceroyalty. 

2. Lord Lawrence and Lord Mayo. Lord Elgin was 
succeeded by Sir John Lawrence, who had so greatly dis- 
tinguished himself in the Panjab during the Mutiny ; after 
his retirement he was created Lord Lawrence, and after 
his death he received the same honour as that which had 
been paid to Lord Canning. During his reign there were 
serious disturbances in Afghanistan, and the Russian 
Power made great advances towards that country. Lord 
Lawrence, however, refused to take any active part in the 
politics of Afghanistan or Central Asia. His policy in 
;hat respect, commonly called ' the policy of masterly inac- 
tivity,' has been greatly blamed by some, and greatly praised 
by others; but subsequent events have rendered it obsolete, 
and Afghanistan is now avowedly under British influence. 

A short war in 1864 against Bhutan resulted in the 
annexation of the Bhutan Dooars. In 1866, the province 
of Orissa was attacked by a terrible famine ; and owing to 
the lack of railways and other means of communication by 
which grain might have been rapidly transported, a great 
loss of life occurred. 

Lord Lawrence retired early in 1869, and was suc- 
ceeded by Lord Mayo, who was an exceedingly popular 
Viceroy with all classes, and especially beloved by the 
Indian Feudatory Chiefs. Shortly after his arrival he 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 163 

received the Amir Sher AH of Afghanistan in a splendid 
Varbdr at Ambala ; and in the following winter His Royal 
Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of the 
Queen, made a most successful tour through India. Lord 
Mayo introduced some important reforms into the financial, 
fiscal, and agricultural administration of India ; and was 
busily elaborating many other schemes of usefulness, when, 
to the grief of the whole Empire, he was assassinated by a 
convict at the Andaman Islands, when returning from an 
official visit to Burma in 1872. 

3. Lord Northbrook. Lord Mayo's reforms had called 
attention to the great importance of Indian finance ; and 
his successor, Lord Northbrook, was chosen because he 
was one of the greatest authorities on that subject. The 
period of his rule was rendered especially memorable by 
the visit to India of His Royal Highness the Prince of 
Wales, the heir to the Imperial Throne, during the winter 
of 1875-76. The Prince's arrival was hailed with the 
greatest cordiality and enthusiasm by all classes of the 
Indian population, and especially by the Chiefs and the 
men of education ; and His Royal Highnesa's kindness of 
manner, and the deep interest he evinced in everything 
concerning the welfare of the people, made him exceedingly 
popular in every part of the country. The Royal visit had 
a valuable political effect, in greatly encouraging that 
sentiment of personal loyalty which has always been a 
conspicuous feature of the Indian character. 

Aided by Sir Richard Temple, then Lieutenant- 
Governor of Bengal, Lord Northbrook had succeeded, 
by the liberal expenditure of public money, in enabling 
the people of Bengal to meet a terrible famine, with which 
that province was afflicted by reason of the great drought 
of 1873. The only other event of first-rate importance 
that occurred during this Viceroyalty was the trial and 
deposition of the Maharaja Malhar Rao, Gaekwar of 
Baroda. The Gaekwar had long misgoverned the great 
State committed to his charge, and was accused of attempt- 

M 2 



164 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

ing to poison the British Resident; fortunately for Baroda, 
he was succeeded by the present Gaekwar, whose rule has 
been a benevolent and successful one. 

4. Lord Lytton. Lord Northbrook retired in 1876, 
and was succeeded by Lord Lytton, who had been a dis- 
tinguished English diplomatist, and was the son of the 
eminent novelist and statesman, best known as Bulwer 
Lytton. 

Long before this period, the power of the British 
Indian Government had been universally recognised as 
paramount throughout the vast continent of India. But 
though, by virtue of this unquestioned right, the Qaeen of 
England was the supreme ruler of a mighty Empire, 
including within its borders many great and ancient king- 
doms and principalities, yet in name India had hitherto 
been only a settlement or dependency of England. This 
inconvenient arrangement produced many anomalies. It 
was by no means pleasing to the self-respect of the Indian 
princes, who really held towards the supreme head of the 
Empire the same relative position as that held by the 
princes of Germany towards the German Emperor, Taut 
who nominally had no better or more honourable position 
than the savage chiefs of some petty settlement. And the 
people of British India naturally preferred to be the sub- 
jects of the Empress of India, rather than of a foreign 
potentate. So it was now resolved that the title of the 
supreme head of the Government should be altered, so as 
to correspond with the actual facts, and that the relations 
of the Indian princes to the Empire should be put on a 
definite and honourable basis. On January 1, 1877, Her 
Majesty was proclaimed Empress of India in a Darbdr of 
unprecedented magnificence, styled the Imperial Assem- 
blage. This Darbar was held at Delhi, as the ancient 
capital of the overlords of India, both in Hindu and in 
Muhammadan times ; and it was attended by all the 
greatest princes of full age from every part of India, and 
by vast numbers of the most distinguished men of every 



THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 165 

community. Most of the Chiefs received additions to their 
titles, and other suitable honours and rewards ; and some 
were created Councillors of the Empress, and others 
Generals in the British Army. On the same day the 
Imperial Proclamation was read, amidst general rejoicings 
and with the strongest manifestations of enthusiasm and 
loyalty, in every district of India. 

In 1877-78, the whole of the country from Eajputana 
in the north to Travancore in the south was afflicted with 
a terrible famine, which was especially severe in Madras, 
Mysore, and the Deccan districts of Bombay. Extra- 
ordinary efforts were made by the Government to meet 
this distress, on which was spent eleven crores of rupees 
in providing food for the people. The Lord Mayor of 
London opened a fund, and collected subscriptions in 
England for the same benevo/ent object ; and considerably 
more than a crore of rupees (820,000?.) was subscribed 
by the Queen, the Royal Family, and the people of England, 
and sent out as a gift to the suffering Indians. It is worthy 
of notice that every colony of the British Empire sub- 
scribed liberally to this fund about ten lakhs were given 
by the people of Australia alone. And help also came 
from the provinces of India not afflicted by the famine; 
among the rest, the college students of Bengal sent their 
contributions. Tet, notwithstanding all this public and 
private generosity, the distress was so widespread, and so 
difficult to reach by even the most lavish expenditure of 
money, that very large numbers died of starvation, espe- 
cially in Madras and Mysore. 

The later years of the Viceroyalty of Lord Lytton were 
mainly occupied with the great Afghan war, which has 
ultimately resulted in the establishment at Kabul of a 
prince approved by the British Government and pledged 
to accept British guidance in all matters of foreign policy. 
The war, which broke out in 1878, was rendered necessary 
by Russian intrigues. The Amir Sher Ali, though he had 
been on such friendly terms with Lord Mayo, was now so 



166 AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO 

foolish as to receive a Russian embassy with honour, and 
to refuse to receive a British Indian embassy. War was 
declared, and our armies advanced on Kabul simultaneously 
by three routes, through the Khaibar Pass, the Knrain 
Pass, and the Bolan Pass (see Chapter I.). The Amir 
fled northward, hoping to escape to Russian territory ; but 
he died in Afghan Turkestan. The first part of the war 
was terminated by the Treaty of Gandamak, signed in 
May 1879, by which Sher Ali's son, Yakub Khan, was 
acknowledged as Amir, and certain districts ceded to the 
Paramount Power. A British Resident, Cavagnari, was 
sent to Kabul ; but in the autumn of the same year, 1879, 
he was murdered with his escort by an insurrection of 
some Afghan regiments so once more condign punish- 
ment had to be inflicted on the Afghans. The British 
foi-ces advanced into the country, and occupied Kabul and 
Kandahar; and Yakub Khan was compelled to abdicate, 
and was sent as a State prisoner to Masuri. * 

Early in 1880, Lord Lytton retired, and was created 
Earl of Lytton and Viscount Knebworth, in recognition of 
his services to the Empire. 

5. Lord Ripon. Lord Ripon was appointed to succeed 
Lord Lytton. Soon after his arrival in India, the very 
unusual event occurred of a British force being defeated at 
Mai wand by Aynb Khan, who claimed to succeed Yakub 
Khan as Amir of Afghanistan. This disaster was, how- 
ever, promptly avenged, The famous march of Sir Frede- 
rick Roberts (now Lord Roberts) from Kabul to Kandahar, 
to punish Ayub, is one of the most brilliant military 
achievements of the age. Ayub was utterly routed and 
put to flight, on September 1, 1880 ; and the present Amir 
of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman, was placed on the vacant 
mas n ad. 

Lord Ripon's Viceroyalty is chiefly famous for the 
great extension of local self-government that was effected by 
his endeavours (bee Appendix, Part II.) . He also abolished 
the import duties on cotton goods, and carried out other 



THE HISTOKY OF INDIA. 167 

reforms. Much difference of opinion arose in regard to 
one of Lord Bipon's legislative proposals, commonly called 
* the Ilbert Bill,' from the name of the Secretary to Govern- 
ment, Mr. Ilbert; but, fortunately, a compromise was 
ultimately arrived at, that satisfied all parties, and thus a 
most regrettable dispute was put an end to. 

Lord Bipon devoted much attention to the important 
question of averting that terrible scourge of modern India, 
famine ; and with this purpose he gave a wise and liberal 
encouragement to the extension of Indian railways. 

He sent a contingent of Indian troops to Egypt in 1882, 
to fight side-by-side with English troops in the war there. 
These native troops greatly distinguished themselves ; and 
after the conclusion of the campaign, some of them visited 
London before returning to India, and were received by 
the English people with great cordiality and enthusiasm. 

Lord Bipon left India in 1884, much regretted by the 
people, to whom he had greatly endeared himself. 

6. Lord Du/erin. Lord Dufferin, who had already 
been Viceroy of Canada, succeeded Lord Bipon in the 
autumn of 1884, and his Viceroyalty is chiefly remarkable 
for the annexation of Upper Burma, and for the celebration, 
with extraordinary rejoicings throughout India, of the 
Jubilee (or fiftieth anniversary) of the reign of Her 
Majesty. 

Early in 1885, Lord Dufferin received the Amir of 
Afghanistan in a grand Darbdr at Rawalpindi in the north 
of the Panjab ; and during the period of his rule such 
measures were taken by the Viceroy arid his Commander- 
in-Chief, Lord Boberts, for the strengthening of the 
Afghan frontier, that all danger of invasion from the side 
of Bussia is believed to be at an end. At a time when 
trouble with Bussia seemed imminent, his Highness the 
Nizam of Haidarabad wrote to the Viceroy a most friendly 
and loyal letter, offering large monetary aid in the defence 
of the Empire, and promising to take the field in person if 
it should be necessary. 



168 AN EAST INTRODUCTION TO 

The misconduct of Thebaw, King of Burma, so gravely 
threatened the peace of Lower Burma and the prosperity 
of the Empire, that it was resolved in 1885 to dethrone 
him and annex his territory. General Prendergast took 
Mandalay, the capital, without any difficulty ; the ex-king 
was deported to India, and the whole of Burma incorporated 
in one Chief Commissionership on January 1, 1886. Sub- 
sequently, on May 1, 1897, this rich and flourishing Pro- 
vince was proclaimed a Lieutenant- Governorship. The 
Viceroy on his retirement was created Marquess of Dufferin 
and Ava. 

7. Lord Lansdowne. The Marquess of Lansdowne, 
who had already been Viceroy of Canada, succeeded Lord 
Dufferin in 1888. The completion of the defences of the 
Afghan frontier, and the establishment of a strong force, 
called the Imperial Service Corps, equipped and main- 
tained by the great Feudatory Chiefs of the Empire for 
frontier defence, were the chief events of Lord Lansdcwne's 
rule. A short-lived insurrection in Manipur, in which 
occurred the massacre of the Chief Commissioner of Assam 
and some other British officers, as well as a number of gal- 
lant Ghurka sepoys, was promptly suppressed and sternly 
punished ; the Senapati of Manipur, who was primarily 
responsible, being hanged for his crime. 

In 1892 an Act was passed in the English Parliament 
to increase the numbers of the Imperial and Provincial 
Legislative Councils ; and Lord Lansdowne subsequently 
tentatively introduced the elective system into the compo- 
sition of those Councils, by permitting the universities and 
other public bodies to nominate representatives therein 
(see Appendix, Part II). In the State of Mysore a repre- 
sentative assembly, duly elected by the people under the 
auspices of the Mysore Government, meets every year to 
discuss the affairs of that State. And in British India, an 
unofficial assembly called the National Congress, consisting 
of delegates elected to represent various centres of educa- 
tion throughout the Empire, has met annually, about 



100 



INDIA 

SHOWING THE POLITICAL DIVISIONS 

and Places of Historical hitei-est 

with tilf lltulwtty I'lttinininirntitmx . 




THE HISTORY OF INDIA. 169 

Christmas time, for some years past, to debate certain 
political and social questions. 

8. Lord Elgin and Lord Curzon. In the year 1894, 
Lord Lansdowne retired, and was succeeded by the Earl 
of Elgin ; and Lord Elgin was succeeded in 1898 by the 
present Viceroy, Lord Curzon of Kedleston. The events 
of these two Viceroyalties are too recent to be fitly dis- 
cussed in this work ; but it is satisfactory to note that the 
moral and material progress of India has continued in a 
marvellous manner, notwithstanding severe visitations of 
famine and plague. 



APPENDIX. 



PABT I. ANCIENT: AND MODERN POLITICAL DIVISIONS, AND 
PLACES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST. 

1. Modern Political Divisions British India and Feudatory 
States. 2. The Thirteen Provinces of British India. 3. The Feuda- 
tory States. 4. Petty Foreign Settlements. 5. Ceylon. 6. Ancient 
or Popular Divisions of India. 

1. Modem Political Divisions. India at the present day, in 
its political constitution, may be regarded as a Federation of 
Governments and States, all in more or less direct subordination 
to a central Supreme Government under the Viceroy and Gover- 
nor-General, the representative of Her Gracious Majesty Queen 
Victoria, Empress of India. This Federation may be divided into 
two parts (a) British India, and (b) Feudatory States. 

(a) British India. British India consists of those Provinces 
which are directly administered by British officers, who are imme- 
mediately subordinate to the Supreme Government of India. They 
are now THIRTEEN in number, comprising an area of about 
944,992 square miles, and containing a population in 1891 of 
221,000,000. In these Provinces the head of the Government is 
called, in some a Governor, in others a LiButenant-Governor, in 
others a Chief Commissioner, and in others a Resident. The Pro- 
vinces of British India are: (1) Bengal, (2) the North- Western 
Provinces and Oudh, (3) the Panjab (or Punjab), (4) British 
lialuchistan, (5) Bombay, including Sind and Aden, (6) Central 
Provinces, (7) Ajmir, (8) Barar, (9) Madras, (10) Ooorg or Kurg, 
(11) Assam, (12) Burma (or Burrnuh), (13) the Andaman Islands. 

NOTE. British India was formerly divided into the three ' Presi- 
dencies ' of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. These divisions are now 
almost entirely obsolete. 



APPENDIX. 171 

(4) Feudatory States. The other States of the Indian Empire 
are ruled by Indian princes, under the protection and general 
control of the Supreme Government. These States are hound by 
treaties, in return for this protection, to render certain feudal 
services to the Paramount Power; as, for instance, in some cases, 
to furnish a certain number of troops in time of war. The princes 
are usually autocratic, or nearly so, within their own limits ; but 
by their engagements to the Paramount Power, they are generally 
bound to good government, and to submit the conduct of their 
external relations to the Imperial Government. Including all the 
petty feudatories, there are no less than 460 such States in various 
parts of India, comprising an area estimated at 600,000 square 
miles, and containing a population estimated in 1891 at about 
66,000,000. The intimacy of the relations with the Paramount 
Power varies in the different States. In the more important a 
British officer, called a Resident or a Political Agent, is stationed ; 
whose functions broadly are, to act as the medium of communication 
between the Prince and the Supreme Government, and to advise 
the Prince in matters of moment. In this sketch we can only 
notice a few of the most important of the Native States. Those 
that are attached to the Governments of Bengal, the North- West 
Provinces, the Panjab, Bombay, and Madras, will be briefly 
noticed in the several accounts of those Governments. The others 
fall into six geographical groups : (1) Rajputana ; (2) the Central 
India Agency ; (3) Haidarabad ; (4) Mysore ; (5) the Frontier 
States of the northern mountain-zone (Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal) ; 
(6) the Frontier States of the western mountain-zone (Kabul or 
Afghanistan, Kalat or Baluchistan). 

Altogether outside the federation of the Indian Empire are a 
few petty French and Portuguese settlements, which will be noticed 
separately. 

2. British India. It will be convenient to take the thirteen 
Provinces of British India, not in the order of their size or im- 
portance, but according to their geographical position, beginning 
in the extreme east, and coming westward. 

(a) Burma (or BurmaK). The great Lieutenant-Governorship 
of Burma is altogether outside India Proper, and occupies the 
country between India and China, in the Asiatic Peninsula called 
' Further India,' east of the Bay of Bengal. It consists of the great 
inland kingdom of Upper Burma, annexed in 1886 ; and the three 



172 APPENDIX. 

rich and fertile provinces of Arakan, Pegu, and Tenasserim, on 
the eastern shores of the Bay of Bengal, forming together Lower 
Burma. Arakan is adjacent to the extreme eastern limit of 
Eastern Bengal ; Pegu consists of the lower valleys of the great 
rivers Irawadi, Sitang, and Salwen ; and Tenasserim is a long 
narrow strip of sea-coast running southward from Pegu. Upper 
Burma lies between these maritime provinces and the frontiers of 
Assam, Thibet, China, and Siam. 

The chief places of interest in Burma are Rangoon, the capital of 
Pegu, and the seat of the Government of Burma, a flourishing port of 
180,000 population, situated on one of the mouths of the Irawadi 
called the Rangoon river. It has a large export trade in rice and 
timber. Mandalay, the capital of Upper Burma, and for some time the 
residence of the Kings of Burma, had a population in 1891 of 188,815. 
It is situated on the upper course of the Irawadi. Bhamo is a town 
near the frontier of China. Moulmein, the chief town of Tenasserim, 
is a fine port, built on a small peninsula at the mouth of the Salwen 
river; its population (1891) is over 65,000. Akyab, the capital of 
Arakan, is a port on an island of the same name at the mouth of the 
Kuladan rirer. * 

The Burmese are a bright and cheerful race, connected with the 
Chinese and other allied peoples of Eastern Asia. The tribes on the 
frontier are chiefly Shans, among whom there are a great many 
Feudatory Shan States. 

(b) Assam. Assam consists of the valleys of the Brahmaputra 
and Surma rivers, with some adjoining hill-tracts. Until tbe 
beginning of 1874 Assam formed a part of the Lieutenant- 
Governorship of Bengal ; but it is now separate, and is governed 
by a Chief Commissioner. 

The following are places of interest in Assam: Gauhdti, the 
present chief town of Assam, in the Kamrup district; it was anciently 
called Pragjaitispur. Ghargaon, the ancient capital of Assam, now 
called Nazirah, in the Sibsagar district. Shillong, in the Khasi Hills, 
the residence of the Government of Assam. 

Assam contains an area of 49,000 square miles, and a popula- 
tion (in 1891) of nearly 6 millions. It is the chief seat of the 
tea-growing industry of India. Attached to this Government is 
the Feudatory State of Manipur, and a good many small 
Feudatory States in the valleys of the Khasi and Jaintia hills. 

(c) Bengal. West and south-west of Assam is the great 
Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal, the largest and by far tha 



APPENDIX. 173 

richest and most populous province of India. It consists of 
Bengal Proper, including the delta* and the lower valley of the 
Ganges ; Bihar, higher up on the Ganges ; Chutia (or Chota) 
Nagpur, which is the hilly country south of Bihar and west of 
Bengal ; and Orissa, which lies south-west of Bengal, and 
stretches down for a little way along the upper coast of the 
peninsula of South India. The Lieutenant-Governorship of 
Bengal is sometimes called the Lower Provinces of Bengal. It 
contains about 151,000 square miles, and (in 1891) about 72 
millions of people ; that is, about three-fourths of the area, and 
nearly double the population, of France. 

The following are places of interest in Bengal : 

1. BENGAL PROPER. In the district of the twenty-four Parganahs, 
Calcutta, with a population in 1891 (including Howrah and the suburbs) 
of 978,000. In Nadiya or Krishnagar district, Nadiya (the old Hindu 
capital of Bengal), near the junction of the Bhagbirathi and Jalangi 
rivers, and Plassey or Paldsi, on the Bhaghirathi. In Bardwan, Bardwan. 
In Hugli, Hugli, Chinsurah, Chandernagar, Safgaon (formerly the 
capital of Bengal, now a small village close to Hugli). In Murshidabad, 
Murshidabad (formerly called Makbsusabad, the capital of the Nawabs 
of Bengal), and Kcisimbazar. In Malda, Gaur, or Lakhnauti, the 
ancient capital of the Mubammadan Kings of Bengal, now in ruins ; 
and Great Panduah, alfo in ruins. In Dacca, Dacca (Dhaka, called by 
the Muhammadans Jahangirnagar'), and the ruins of Sunargaon. In 
Chittagong, Cha.tga.on or Chittagong, called by Muhammadans Islam- 
abad. 

2. BIHAR. In Patna district, Patna, the ancient Palibothra or 
Pataliputra, capital of the empire of Magadha. In Shahabad, Arrah, 
Baxar, Chausa, Sahsardm, and the fortress of Rohtas. In Tirhut 
(anciently called Mithilj,) is Hajipur, on the confluence of the Ganges 
and the Ghandak, opposite to Patna. In Hunger, Hunger. In tho 
Santal Parganahs, Rajmahal (formerly called Akmahal), and Teliagarhi 
(formerly a famous fort). 

3. ORISSA. In the district of Katak or Central Orissa, Katak or 
Katak Banaras, on the river Mahanadi, the capital of Orissa ; and 
Jajpur, the ancient capital. In Purl, or Southern Orissa, Puri or 
Jagannath. In Balasor, or Northern Orissa, Balasor. 

4. CHUTIA NAGPUR. Eanchi is the chief town, and Hazaribagh is 
a military station. Parisnath is a sacred hill of the Jains. 

* The delta of a river is the land between its mouths, i.e. between 
the various branches by which it falls into the sea. 



174 APPENDIX. 

Attached to the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal is the 
Feudatory State of Kuch Bihar, on the lower slopes of the 
Himalaya mountains; and a large number of Feudatory chief- 
taincies in Orissa and Chutia Nagpur, called the Orissa Tributary 
Mahals and the Chutia Ndgpur Tributary Mahals respectively. 

(d) The North-Western Provinces and Oudh. West of Bihar, 
and higher up the valley of the Ganges, is the country called the 
NORTH- WESTERN PROVINCES and OUDH, ruled by a Lieutenant- 
Governor. It includes the provinces of Benares and Gorakhpur, 
adjoining Bihar; those of Allahabad, Agra, and Mirath, following 
one another successively as we go higher up the valleys of the 
Ganges and its great feeder, the Jamnah ; Jhansi, south of Agra 
and Allahabad; Rohilkhand, stretching north of Agra towards 
the Himalaya mountains; and Kumaon, a hill- district on the 
spurs of the Himalayas north of Rohilkhand. 

The following are places of historical interest in the North-West 
Provinces: 

In the Benares division, Benares (Banaras, population in 1891, 
nearly 220,000), Ghazipur, Chanar (a famous hill-fort in the Miwapur 
district), and Jaunpiir. In the Allahabad division, Allahabad (the 
capital of the province, situated at the confluence of the Jamnah and the 
Ganges, formerly called Prayaga), and Cawnpore (Kanhpur). In the 
Agra division, Agra (and near Agra are Fathpur Sikri and Chandwa 
or Firuzabad) ; Kanauj, formerly called Kanyakubja ; and Mathura. 
In the Meerut (or Mirakh) division, Meerut. In the Jhansi division, 
Jhansi. In Rohilkhand, By nor (the scene of Kalidasa's great drama, 
Sakuntala). 

Attached to the Lieutenant-Governorship of the North- 
Western Provinces, and nearly shut in between Rohilkhand on 
the west and Gorakhpur on the east, is the small but rich and 
populous province of OTTDH, formerly governed by a Chief Com- 
missioner. It stretches from the Ganges on the south to the 
Himalaya mountains on the north. 

The following are places of historical interest in Oudh : 
In Central Oudh, Lucknow (Lakhnau), the capital of the province. 
In Eastern Oudh, Ayorfhyd (the birthplace of Rama), near Faizabad. 

The NATIVE STATES attached to this Government are the 
Rohilla State of Rampur, and the Himalayan State of Garhwal 
in Kumaon. The North- Western Provinces are so called, though 



APPENDIX. 175 

in the centre of Northern India, because they formed the north- 
west portion of the old Bengal Presidency before the annexation 
of the Panjab. Including Oudh, they contain an area of 107,503 
square miles, and (in 1891) nearly 47 millions of people ; that is, 
nearly the area of Italy, and nearly the population of the German 
Empire. 

(e) The Panjdb. Proceeding from Agra up the valley of the 
Jamnah, we come to the city and province of Delhi or Dehli, which 
is now annexed to theLieutenant-Governorship of the PANJAB. The 
Panjab Proper includes the upper valley of the Indus, and derives 
its name (Panj-db = Five rivers) from the Jive tributaries of the 
Indus viz. the Satlej,the Biah or Bias, the Ravi, the Chanab, 
and the Jhelam or Bahat. Attached to the Panjab are many 
important Feudatory States, of which the chief are : (1) Kashmir, 
occupying a fine valley in the Himalayas north-east of the Panjab ; 
(2) Kapurthala ; (3) the Cis-Satlej States of Patiala, Jhind, and 
Nabba, called Cis-Satlej States because they are on this (i.e. the 
Calcutta) side of the Satlej. 

The following are places of historical interest in the Panjab : 
In the Dehli division, Dehli (population, in 1891, nearly 200.000) ; 
and (north of Dehli) Karnal and Panipat. In the Ambalah divi- 
sion, north of Dehli, TJianeswar, on the Saraswati, with the village 
of Tiraori and the field of Kurnkshetra near at hand ; Machhiwara, 
Aliwdl, and Sirhind, all near Lodiaria. In the Jalandhar division, 
Kdnyrah or Nagarkot. In the Lahor division, Lahor, the capital 
of the province, with a population (in 1891) of nearly 177,000; 
and (south of the Satlej) Firuzpur, Firitzshahr, Mudki, and Ro- 
brdon. In the Kawalpindi division (the country called Taxila by 
Alexander and the Greeks see Chapter V.), Attack (or Afak), on the 
Indus ; Gujarat (the town near which the Sikhs were defeated by Lord 
Gough in 1849 see Chapter XXXII. not to be confounded with the 
Province of Gujarat, on the west side of India); and Chilianwallah. In 
the Peshawa-r division, Peshawar (an important town beyond the Indus, 
on the frontiers of Afghanistan ; between Peshawar and Afghanistan is 
the famous Khaibar Pass, a difficult road through the mountains see 
Chapter XXX.) Southward, in the Multan division, between the Satlej 
and the Chanab, Multan. 

The Lieutenant-Governorship of the Panjab, excluding Kash- 
mir, but including the other Feudatory States, contains an area of 
nearly 150,000 square miles, and a population of over 25,000,000; 



176 APPENDIX. 

that is, about three-fourths of the area, and half the population, of 
the German Empire. 

(/) British Baluchistan. West of the Panjab and of the 
Sind division of Bombay, and separated from them by lofty 
mountain regions connected with the Suleman and Hala ranges, 
is the Province of BKITISH: BALUCHISTAN, under the government 
of an Agent of the Governor-General. This territory consists of 
Pishin and six other mountainous districts of Afghanistan, ceded 
to India by the Treaty of Gandamak (see Chapter XXXIV.) ; 
together with the town and district of Quetta and the Bolan Pass, 
assigned to British administration by the Khan of Kalat. At- 
tached to the Provinces are the various tribal chieftains of Balu- 
chistan, under the suzerainty of the Khan (or Wali) of Kalat ; 
the most important of these sub-feudatories is the Jam of Las 
Bela. The total area of Baluchistan is about 130,000 square 
miles ; its population is about 500,000. 

The places of interest in Baluchistan are Quetta, an important 
military station commanding the approach to India through the Bolan 
Pass from Kandahar and Western Asia ; Kalat, the residence f the 
Khan; and Las Bela. The Bolan and Sind-Pishin railways have been 
constructed through most rugged mountains, and are regarded as 
triumphs of engineering. 

(g) Bombay.- The Governorship (or Presidency) of Bombay, 
with the numerous Feudatory States attached to it, occupies most 
of the west of India ; and extends from the frontiers of the Panjab 
to those of Madras and Mysore. Its northern portion is called 
Sind, which consists of the lower valley of the river Indus, and 
is separated from the rest of the Presidency by the Feudatory 
States of Gujarat and Kutch (or Kach). Gujarat consists of the 
peninsula of Kathiawar, divided among a large number of 
Feudatory Chiefs, and the adjacent territories of Western India, 
of which a large area is occupied by the great Feudatory State of 
Baroda, governed by His Highness the Maharaja Gaekwar. 
Kutch (or Kach) is separated from the mainland by a shallow arm 
of the sea, called the Rann of Kach, which is dry in the hot 
weather; it is governed by His Highness the Rao of Kutch. 
The southern portion of the Bombay Presidency consists of: 
(1) Gujarat; (2) the Konkan, including the island of Bombay 
and much of the adjacent mainland ; (3) Maharashtra, or the 



APPENDIX. 177 

country of the Mahrattas, lying inland, and separated from the 
Konkau by the range of hills called the Western Ghats; (4) 
Khandesh, also inland, east of Gujarat and north of Maharashtra ; 
and in the extreme south, North Kanara, adjoining Mysore and 
the Madras Presidency, and separated from the Konkan by the 
small Portuguese territory of Goa. All these Provinces, except 
Gujarat, belong to South India, forming the western side of the 
Great Indian Peninsula. Including Sind, the Presidency has an 
area of over 125,000 square miles, and a population (in 1891) of 
nearly 19 millions ; that is, an area nearly as large as that of 
Prussia, and a population greater than that of Spain. 

The following are places of historical interest in the Bombay 
Presidency : 

In Gujaral , Surat. In the Konkan, Bombay, with a population, in 
1891, of 821,764. TJianah (or Tanna), on the island of Salsette, north- 
east of Bombay ; and Basscin, north-west of Thanah. In Maharashtra, 
Puna (or Poona), long the capital of the Mahrattas ; near it, KhirJd 
and Fort Purandhar ; Ahmadnagar, the capital of the Nizam Shahi 
kingdom; Bijdpur, the capital of the Adil Shahi kingdom ; and Saldra, 
the capital of Sivaji's descendants. In North Kanara, Hondwar or 
Honorc. In Sind, Haidarabad, the capital; near it Miani and Amarkot; 
Tatta, the ancient capital of Sind ; and west of Tatta, the great port 
of Karachi. 

(h) The Central Provinces. South-west of the Bengal districts 
of Chutia Nagpur, and bounded on the north by the Feudatory 
States of the Central India Agency, on the west by the Bombay 
Presidency, on the south by Barar and Haidarabad, and on the 
south-east by the Madras Presidency and Orissa, is the Chief 
Commissionership of the CENTRAL PROVINCES. 

NOTE. Students will do well to distinguish clearly between the 
British territory known as the ' Central Provinces,' and the Feudatory 
territory (or group of Feudatory States) lying to the north thereof, 
which is known as ' Central India ' or the ' Central India Agency ' [see 
3 (Z)]. The term Central India is sometimes loosely used to include 
both these vast regions. 

The Central Provinces consist of three territories historically 
distinct the Sdf/ar and Narbadd territories in the north (ceded 
by the Raja of Nagpur in 1818), Nagpur in the south (annexed 
by Lord Dalhousie in 1853), and the Tributary Mahals in the 
east. There are a good many Feudatory States attached to the 



178 APPENDIX. 

Government of the Central Provinces, with a total area of over 
29,000 square miles, and a population exceeding 2,000,000 ; of 
these States the largest is Bastar, which is larger than Belgium. 
Including these States, the area of the Central Provinces is about 
110,000 square miles, with a population (in 1891) of nearly 
13,000,000 that is, the area is much bigger than that of Great 
Britain, while the population is nearly half that of England. 

In ancient times the Central Provinces formed the kingdom of 
Gondwana, the country of the aboriginal Gonds. At present the Gonds 
and other aboriginal tribes are estimated to number about one-fourth 
of the population ; and many of the local Rajas or Thakurs are Raj- 
Gonds by descent. 

The capital is the city of N&gpur, with 117,000 inhabitants in 
1891, formerly the seat of the Mahratta Rajas of Barar. Near it is 
Kamthi, a large cantonment of British troops. Jabalpur is a great 
railway centre, with a population of 85,000. In the district of Nimar, 
in the Narbada Commissionership, is Burkdt/pur, the capital of the old 
Kings of Khandesh ; and neat it is the famous fortress of Asirgarh. 

The country generally is rather thinly peopled, most of it being 
elevated upland and forest ; but it is rich in mineral resources, having 
very valuable coal-mines, and has grown into great importance as a 
cotton-growing region. 

(f) The Bardrs. Soutli and west of the Central Provinces and 
east of Khandesh in Bombay lies the territory called the Bardrs 
or the Haidarabad Assigned Districts, at present under direct 
British rule, the chief officer of Government being the British 
Resident at Haidarabad This territory was handed over tempo- 
rarily to the British Government by the Nizam of Haidarabad in 
1853 as security for debts. Its area is 17,718 square miles; its 
population in 1891 nearly 3,000,000. 

Barar is a corruption of Vidarbha, the ancient name of the country. 
The province is divided into the two Commissionerships of East and 
West Barar. In the district of Ilichpur in East Barar is Ilichpur, the 
capital, and the fortress of Gawilgarh. In the district of Akola, in 
West Barar, are Arqiwn, und the ruins of Shahpur. The southern part 
of Barar is called Balaghat. 

(j) Madras. THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY occupies all the 
eastern coast of the Indian peninsula (called the Coromandel 
coast) as far north as Orissa, in Bengal ; all the southern portion 
of that peninsula, and a part of the western coast (called the 



APPENDIX. 179 

Malabar coast). It has an area of 141,189 square miles, and a 
population in 1891 of nearly 36,000,000 ; that is, ib is consider- 
ably larger and more populous than Prussia. The north-eastern 
districts, bordering on Orissa, are called the Northern Circars; 
the eastern and southern districts are the Carnatic, the western 
are Malabar and South Kanara. 

Attached to the Madras Presidency are some Feudatory States, 
of which the chief are Trarancore, occupying the southern corner 
of the Indian peninsula, and Cochin, on the Malabar coast, north 
of Travancore. 

The following are the chief places of historical interest in the 
Madras Presidency : 

In the Northern Circars, Gumsur, Masulipatam, Guntur. In the 
Carnatic, Madras, with Chingalpat and Conjeveram near it, Arcot, and 
in the same district Vellor and Wandewash. In South Arcot, Cuddalore, 
the ruins of Fort St David, Ginji, Porto Novo, and the French town of 
Pondicherry. In the district of Trichinopoly, Trichinopoly, and the 
island of Srirangam. In the district of Tanjore, Tanjore ; and in that of 
Madura, Madura. In Malabar, Calicut, Cannanore, and the Palghat 
Pass. ID South Kanara, Mangalore. 

(K) Coorg. Coorg (or Kurg) is a small hilly territory, situated 
between the Malabar districts of Madras and the south-west of the 
Mysore State. It was, until March 1881, under the rule of the Chief 
Commissioner of Mysore and Coorg ; but is now administered by 
the British Resident in Mysore. The land is generally more than 
3,000 feet above sea-level ; and with the Madras district of the 
Waindd (or Wynaad), is the seat of an important coffee and tea- 
growing industry. The chief town is Merkara. 

(I) Ajmir. AJMIK is a small British district in the centre of 
Rajputana. It is under the rule of the Agent of the Governor- 
General for Rajputana. 

(TO) The Andaman Islands. The Andaman and Nikobar 
Islands are two groups in the Bay of Bengal, opposite Tenasserim. 
They are ruled by a Chief Commissioner under the Government 
of India ; and in the Andamans is the great penal settlement to 
which convicts are transported from all parts of India. Port 
Blair, the capital, has the melancholy interest attached to it of 
having been the scene of the murder of Lord Mayo, who was here 
stabbed by an Afghan convict. The native Andamanese, supposed 
to number about 10,000, are savages of the lowest type, and are 

N 2 



180 APPENDIX. 

reputed to have cannibalistic propensities. The Nikobareans are 
little better ; and one of the chief reasons why these islands are 
held by the Indian Government is to suppress the piracy and 
wrecking for which they were famous. 

3. The Feudatory States of India. The chief Feudatory 
States attached to the various Provinces of British India have 
already been noticed. "We will now consider the six geographical 
groups of Feudatory States mentioned in 1. 

(a) JRdjputdna. South of the Panjab and west of the North- 
Western Provinces is the great group of Native States called 
Rajputana, or the country of the llajputs. It consists of eighteen 
Feudatory States, governed each by its own ruler (under the pro- 
tection of the Supreme Government) as a Prince of the Empire. 
The Supreme Government is represented by Residents or Political 
Agents in the various States or groups of States, and all these 
British political officers are subordinate to ' the Agent of the 
Governor-General for Rajputana,' who resides at Mount Abu in 
the south-west, and who is immediately responsible to the Supreme 
Government. There is also one district, already noticed 
which is directly administered by British officers. 

The Aravali Hills form a diagonal of Rajputana, from north-east 
to south-west. North and west of this line the country is more or less 
desert, though with many comparatively fertile patches, becoming 
more and more sandy and rocky to the north-west, where it forms part of 
the Great Indian Desert. East and south of the Aravalis the country, 
though much more fertile, is ou the whole hilly, until the plains of 
Bhartpur are reached, where Rajputana joins the North-West Provinces. 
The fastnesses of these hills and deserts were the refuge of some of 
those tribes and dynasties that had been dominant in the great empires 
of Northern India before the Muhammadan conquest : thus, the Maha- 
rana of Udaipur, the head of the Sesodia sept of the Gehlot clan of 
llajputs, is the direct representative of the Gehlot princes of Vallabhi 
in Kathiawar, who ruled an extensive empire in Gujarat from the begin- 
ning of the fourth to the end of the sixth century of the Christian era: 
and the Maharaja of Jodhpur or jMarwar is in like manner the repre- 
sentative of the Rahtor princes of Kanauj. When the dominant 
Rajput clan lost its dominion in the fertile districts of Hindustan, the 
whole or a part of the clan usually marched off westward and carved 
out a new and poorer lordship in Rajputana. There they have retained 
their clanship, their hold on the land, and their semi-feudal institutions 
to the present day ; and from the development of the States thus 



APPENDIX. 181 

formed, or from sections or offshoots of them, all the chief Rajput 
States of Rajputana derive their origin. In them the land is held by 
the clan ; political status is measured by kinship with and purity of 
descent from the original conquerors; and the prince rules as the head 
of the clan. There, are, however, three non-Rajput States Bhartpur 
and Dholpur being Jats, and Tonk being Muhammadan : all these have 
had a modern origin the Nawab of Tonk is the descendant of the 
Pindari leader Amir Khan, who was guaranteed this principality by the 
Marquess of Hastings, on his submission in 1817. 

Rajputana contains about 130,000 square miles, and (in 1891) over 
twelve millions of inhabitants ; that is, it is nearly the size of Prussia, 
and contains about four times the population of Switzerland. Besides 
the people of Rajput descent, who form the aristocracy owning (and 
often also cultivating) the land, there are many other cultivating tribes 
or classes, of whom the Jats and the Gujars are the most numerous. 
In the last century nearly all the banking trade of Northern India was 
in the hands of natives of Rajputana, called by the name Marwaris; 
and wealthy and enterprising Marwaris are still to be found as bankers 
and merchants in most of the large towns. There are also in Rajpu- 
tana a large number of more or less uncivilised aboriginal tribes, of 
whom the chief are the Bhils, forming a large proportion of the total 
population in some of the wilder parts of the country. And there are 
some tribes that claim to be descended from a mixed parentage, partly 
Rajput, partly aboriginal, of whom the best known are the Mers or 
Mhairs, from whose numbers an excellent corps of the British Indian 
army has been recruited. 

Jaipur is a large and handsome city ; and that State (whose Maha- 
rajaisthe illustrious chief of the Kachwaha clan of Rajputs, and formerly 
a member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council) has always taken a pro- 
minent part in Indian history, and is at the present time one of the 
most progressive parts of Native India. In the Jaipur State are 
situated Amber, the former capital ; and Santanbhur, an historical 
fortress. In Maiwar or Udaipur, is Udaipur, the present capital of the 
Maharana of Udaipur, who is called the ' Sun of the Hindus,' and is 
regarded as the prince of highest lineage in India : his palace is placed 
on a ridge overlooking a most romantic and beautiful lake. Eastward 
is Chitor, formerly the capital of the State, and the renowned fortress 
successively taken by Ala-ud-din and by Akbar. Jodhpur, the capital 
of the State of that name, is a fenced city in the desert, containing 
nearly 70,000 inhabitants. In Alwar (or Ulwar), north of Jaipur, is 
Ldswdri, the scene of Lord Lake's crowning victory over the Mahrattas 
in 1803, which terminated the second Mahratta war. In Bhartpur is 
J&artpur, the capital and a fortress once deemed impregnable, but 



182 APPENDIX. 

stormed by the British forces under Lord Combermere in 1826 ; and 
Dig, the scene of the defeat of Holkar's troops by the British in 1804. 
In Jhalawar is Gagron, the site of a fortress famous for Eana Sanga's 
great victory over the forces of Malwa in 1519. In Sirohi is situated 
Mount Abu, a sacred hill both for Hindus and for Jains, and the 
residence of the ' Agent of the Governor-General for Rajput ana,' who 
is the immediate representative of the British Government in this 
province. 

Rajputana, though sparsely populated and comparatively 
somewhat backward in general prosperity, is historically one of 
the most interesting provinces of India ; for therein have remained, 
more or less intact, and under the suzerainty of the successive 
conquerors of India, the only modern survivals of the most ancient 
forms of Hindu rule. 

(b) The Central India Agency. East of Gujarat and 
Rajputana, partly in Hindustan and partly in the Deccan, is the 
great group of Feudatory States known as the Central India 
Agency, so called because the representative of the Paramount 
Power is called * the Agent of the Governor-General for Central 
India.' The Agency comprises the seventy-one feudatories of 
Malwa, Bundelkhand, and Bajrhelkhand, with an area of nearly 
80,000 square miles and a population (in 1891) of more than ten 
millions. The most important States are : (1) Gwalior (Gwaliar), 
or tke dominions of the Maharaja Sindia, in several detached 
portions, but aggregating an area greater than that of Holland 
and Belgium together ; (2) Indore, the dominions of the Maharaja 
Holkar, comprising a large part of Malwa ; (3) Bhopal, the 
dominions of Shah Jahan Begum ; and (4) Rewah, and the States 
of Bundelkband and Baghelkhand, south of the North- West 
Provinces and west of Chutia Nagpur in Bengal. 

In the territory of Sindia are : Gwalior, the capital, with its famous 
fortress (the state prison of the Mughul emperors), and the Lashkar or 
standing-camp ; near it, Mahdrdjpur and Paniar, the scenes of the 
battles in which Sindia's forces were defeated by the British in 1843 ; 
Ujjain, one of the most ancient and sacred cities of India, the capital 
of King Vikramaditya, and the first meridian of Hindu geographers ; 
Kimach (or Neemuch), a great British cantonment ; and Bhiha, famous 
for its Buddhist ' topes.' 

In Holkar's dominions are : Indore, the capital ; Mahidpur, near 
Ujjain, the scene of the defeat of Holkar's forces by the British in 1817 ; 



APPENDIX. 183 

and Man (or Mhow), a great British cantonment. In Bhopal are : 
Raisin, a fort captured by Sher Sur ; and Sehore, a British cantonment. 

(c) Haidarabad. South of the Barars are the dominions of 
the Nizam of Haidarabad, the first Feudatory of the Indian 
Empire. They occupy the centre of the Deccan peninsula, being 1 
cut off from the sea by the Bombay Presidency on the west and 
by the Madras Presidency on the east and south ; and the Nizam 
is often called the Nizam of the Deccan. 

In size and population the State of Haidarabad is nearly equal to 
the Central Provinces. Haidarabad (or Hyderabad), the capital, is on 
the Musi, a tributary of the Krishna ; it contains a population (in 
1891) of over 400,000, with a large foreign element consisting of 
Arabs, Habshis (or Abyssinians), Rohilla and other Afghans, generally 
descended from or connected with the mercenary troops formerly 
largely employed by the Nizam's Government. Secunderabad, five 
miles north of Haidarabad, is the largest British cantonment in India 
the barracks and other buildings for the troops extending for a distance 
of four miles ; near it is the Husain Sagar, a tank or artificial lake 
several miles in circumference ; and further away is Bofdram, the 
chief cantonment of the Nizam's troops. North-west from Haidarabad 
lies Golkondah, formerly the capital of the Kutb-Shahi kings, and 
once famous fur its diamond mines. In the north-east is Warangal, 
once the capital of the Hindu empire of Telingana. Bidar, on a tributary 
of the Godavari, was the capital of the Barid-Shahi dynasty; and near 
it is Kulbargah or Gulbargah, formerly the seat of the Bahmani kings, 
and now an important railway junction on the line between Bombay 
and Madras. Kharki was the capital of Malik Amber ; it is now 
called Aurangabad, from Aurangzeb, who was subahda,' of the Deccan 
in the reign of his father, Shah Jahan. A little west of Aurangabad 
is Deogiri or Deogarh, now called Daulatabad ; a few miles to the north- 
west is Ellnra, famous for its cave-temples, and to the east is the 
battle-field of Assai. 

(cT) Mysore. In the southern-central part of the peninsula, 
south of the Haidarabad territory, and separated from it by some 
Madras districts called the Ceded Districts, is the great Feudatory 
State of Mysore. It is under the rule of the Maharaja of Mysore, 
and ranks as one of our most important Feudatory States. 

Until March 1881, Mysore had been for many years under the 
direct administration of a British Chief Commissioner ; but at that 
time full sovereignty was restored to His Highness the late Maharaja. 
It occupies a lofty tableland, with an average elevation of 3,000 feet. 



184 APPENDIX. 

The capital is Mysore, with a population (in 1891) of over 74,000 ; and 
near it is the famous Seringapatam, the capital of Haidar Ali and 
Tippu, its fortress now almost in ruins. Bangalore, with a population 
(in 1891) of 180,000, has a large British cantonment, and enjoys a cool 
and pleasant climate. Other places of historical interest are Bednor 
and the hill-fortress of Nandidrug. Kolaris the centre of an important 
gold-mining industry; and in the north-western district are m.iny 
coffee-plantations. 

(e) The Frontier Hill States. In the valleys and slopes of the 
Himalayas are four Feudatory States, of which one, Kashmir, is a 
Feudatory attached to the Panjab. The others are Bhutan, in 
the Himalaya slopes north of Assam and Bengal ; Sikkim, in 
those north of Bengal ; and Nepal, in the slopes aud valleys north 
of Bengal, the North- West Provinces, and Oudh. On the 
frontiers of the Panjab and Sind, from the confines of Kashmir 
round to the sea near Karachi, there are a large number of wild 
or semi-civilised tribes, who either assert a savage independence or 
own an uncertain allegiance to military rulers at Kabul in 
Afghanistan, at Kaldt in Baluchistan, and sometimes at other 
centres. Of late years the most important of these chiefs has 
usually been the ruler of Kabul, called the Amir or Wall of 
Afghanistan [see Chapter XXIX., 1] ; and -besides the country 
of Kabul proper, and the Kohistdn, or mountain regions adjoining, 
the Amir of Kabul has for some time succeeded in holding in 
subjection the provinces of Ghazni and Kandahar southward, 
Herat and the rich and fertile valley of the Harimd westward as 
far as Persia, with some extensive possessions north of the Hindu 
Kush range, known as Afghan Turlristan. The Khan of Kalat is 
the chief ruler in Baluchistan. 

4. Petty Foreign Settlements. There are three small Portu- 
guese settlements in India, namely, Goa (area, 1,062 square 
miles; population, 863,000), a town and district between the 
Konkan and North Kanara; Daman, a town in the British 
district of Surat (population, 33,000) ; and Diu, an island near 
the peninsula of Kathiawar (population, 10,000). 

There are also five petty French settlements, of which the 
chief are the town of Pondicherry, south of Madras (population, 
363,000), and the town of Chandernagar, between Hugli and 
Serampore, on the river Hugli (or Hooghly), above Calcutta 
(population, 22,000). 



APPENDIX. 185 

6. Ceylon. Oeylon is geographically an Indian island, 
though it has no political connection with the Indian Empire, as 
it is an English Crown colony, and is ruled by the English 
Government in London through a Governor, and not by the 
Viceroy of India. It is a little smaller than Ireland, with a 
population of over 3,000,000. The native name is Singhala, but 
the Hindus call it Lanka, and the Muhammadan name (in Arabic) 
was Sildn, of which the English name Ceylon is only another 
spelling. The Maldive Inlands, to the north-west, are tributary to 
Ceylon, as the Laccadives are to Madras. 

6. Ancient or Popular Divisions of India. The administra- 
tive divisions of the Indian Empire, as given above, have in 
modern times altogether superseded the old divisions, both Hindu 
and Muhammadan. Many of these ancient divisions, however, 
are of considerable historical importance. It will be well for the 
student to know something about them, and also something about 
some divisions that still exist in the language of the people, though 
unrecognised officially. 

The chief divisions of the Mughul Empire in the time of Akbar 
(called Siibahs, the jurisdiction of a Subahddr or viceroy) are given 
in the map at page 57. 

In addition to this may be noticed, as Muhammadan divisions, 
the following : 

Jharkhand (jungle-land'), the northern part of Gondwana, closely 
corresponding to the modern Chutia Nagpur in Bengal. 

EoJiilkhand (the country of the immigrant Rohilla Afghans), "which 
is also a modern division of the North-West Provinces, west of Oudh. 

Bundelkhand (the country of the Bundela Rajputs), which is also 
a modern name, including the southern portions of the North- West 
Provinces, and the adjoining native States ; with Baghelkhand (the 
country of the Baghela Kajputs), east of Bundelkhand. 

Sambhal, which was an earlier name for the western part of Eohil- 
khand and some adjoining districts. 

Mewat, in Mughul times famous as a land of turbulent freebooters, 
was south-west of Delhi, and included most of the modern State of 
(Uwar in Kajputana. 

Dodb (the land of two rivers) is applied to all countries between 
too rivers which unite ; but the Doab generally means the country 
between the Ganges and the Jamnah. 

The Mughul Subah of Lahore, with parts of those of Delhi and 
Multan or Sind, form the modern Punjab. 



186 APPENDIX. 

The Mnghnl Subah of Kabul seems to hare included Eastern and 
Southern Afghanistan and Eastern Baluchistan. In earlrer Musalman 
times, Afghanistan was divided into (1) KHlji or Ghilji, the country of 
the Khilji Afghans, between Kuram and Ghazni ; (2) Boh, the country 
of the Rohilla Afghans, between Ghazni and Kandahar; (3) Ghor, the 
country of the Ghori Afghans, between Balkh and Merv, north of the 
Hindu Kush mountains. 

Some of the most interesting Hindii divisions of very ancient 
times are the following : 

Kamrup was Lower Assam. 

Madra was Bhutan and Upper Assam. 

Odra or Utkala was Orissa. 

Anga, Banga, Varendra, Bard, Bagri, were divisions of Lower 
Bengal (Banga-des). 

Vriji was the earliest name of Tirhut in Bihar ; which was after- 
wards the kingdom of Mithila, and was probably also included in the 
realm of Vaisali. The centre of the great empire of Magadha was in 
Southern Bihar. 

Kashi was the Benares country ; north-west of it, to the Himalaya, 
was Kapila, or Kapilavastu. 

Panchala was Rohilkhand and the adjacent districts. 

The great Andhra, kingdom of Telingana (with its capital at War- 
angal) had its centre in the north-east of the Deccan (Haidarabad 
territory), and extended at times over the eastern part of the penin- 
sula. The portion of this empire adjacent to Orissa was called Kalinga, 
and was often independent. 

The vast territories of Kosala or Mahakosala extended from the 
western confines of Telingana and Kalinga to the eastern bounds of 
Malwa (then called Ujjayini or Ujjain, from its capital) and of 
Maharashtra. Vidarbha was Barar. 

Virata was a kingdom in the north east of Rajputana. Taxila (or 
Takshasila} was a city and realm in the north of the Panjab, conquered 
by Alexander, and visited by the Chinese pilgrims. 

Saurashtra (called by Muhammadans Sorath) was Kathiawar ; and 
once formed the centre of the great Vallabhi empire of Gujarat, and 
contained the capital Vallabhi. 

The extreme southern corner of the peninsula (now Travancore) 
was called Malakuta ; and north of this was a large territory called 
Dravida (whence the term ' Dravidian languages '), with its capital at 
Conjeveram (Kanchipuram). 

Tho Konkan is the term formerly applied- (and still in use) to the 
low country between the Western Ghats and the sea, in its northern 



APPENDIX. 187 

part ; and Malab&r is the southern part. The similar low country on 
the eastern coast is called, in the north, the Northern drears ; and in 
the south, the Carnatic. 

PART II. INDIA IN 1900. 

1. Races and Languages. 2. Religion. 3. Public Instruc- 
tion. 4. Agriculture. 5. Forests. 6. Mines. 7. Manufactures. 
8. Commerce. 9. Railways. 10. Existing Forms of Imperial, 
Provincial, and Municipal Government. 

1. Races and Languages. A large number of different races 
inhabit the great country of India, who are most easily distin- 
guished by the various languages which they spea^. 

It should be noticed at first, that, of the Muhammadans that 
are to be found in all parts of India, some are descendants of the 
old Afghan or Pathan conquerors of India [see Chap. IX.] ; others 
are descendants of the later Mughul conquerors \_see Chap. XII.]; 
a few are Persian, Arabian, or African immigrants ; but the ma- 
jority are only descended from converts, and do not differ in point 
of race from the rest of the population. They, however, generally 
speak some dialect or other of the Urdu or Hindustani language, 
which is formed of Persian mixed with the vernacular languages. 

The rest of the population may be divided broadly into Aryan- 
Hindus and Aborigines in the north of India, and into Dravidian- 
Hindus and Aborigines in the south. 

The aboriginal tribes are found in the hills and forests of every 
part of India. Thus there are the Santals, in Bengal ; the Bhars, 
in the North-West Provinces and Oudh ; the Gakkhars, in the 
Panjab ; the Gonds, in Central India ; the Bhils, in Bombay and 
Rajputaua; the Tudas, in South India; and many others. Many 
of the lower castes in all parts of India are largely mixed with 
aboriginal tribes. 

By far the most numerous and the most important part of the 
population of India consists of the Aryan-Hindus in the north, 
and the Dravidian-Hindus in the south. The precise relationship, 
if any, between these two races has never been settled ; it is gene- 
rally believed that the Hindus of Southern India do not belong to 
the great Aryan race at all, but are more nearly allied to the 
aboriginal tribes. 

The Aryan-Hindus are connected by descent with the chief 
nations of Europe (see Chap. II.) The languages spoken by the 



188 



APPENDIX. 



PUSHTU 

OR 




INDIA 

SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION Of? 

LANGUAGES 



STANFOKOS GEOGl CSTAST 55 



APPENDIX. 180 

different branches of the Aryan-Hindu race are all derived from 
the Sanskrit, with more or less admixture from other sources. Of 
these branches, the chief are : (1) the Jimdi-speaking people, in 
Bihar, the North- West Provinces, Oudh, and the Central Pro- 
vinces ; (2) the Bengalis, in Bengal and parts of Bihar, Orissa, 
r-nd Assam, the Assamese language itself being very closely allied 
to Bengali ; (3) the Mahrattas, speaking Marathi, in the Bombay 
Presidency, the Central Provinces, the Central India Agency, and 
the Barars; (4) the (rw/araYz'-speaking people, in the Bombay 
Presidency and the adjacent parts of Rajputana ; (5) the Uriyds, 
in Orissa and the adjacent parts of the Central Provinces and the 
Madras Presidency; (6) the Punjabis, in the Panjab; and (7) the 
Smdhians, in Sindh. 

The Dravidian races are: (1) the Telugus, in the northern 
portions of the Madras Presidency and in the east of the Nizam's 
dominions; (2) 'the Tamils, throughout the southern portion of 
the peninsula, speaking the Tamil language in the South Carnatic 
and Travancore, and the Malayalim dialect of that language in 
Malabar and Cochin ; (3) the Kanarese, in Kanara and other 
western portions of the Madras Presidency, and also in Mysore 
and Coorg, and throughout a considerable part of the Nizam's 
dominions. 

2. Religion. The religion of the great majority of the inha- 
bitants of India is the Hindu. According to the census of 1891, 
out of a total of 288 millions, those who follow one form or another 
of the Hindu religion number no fewer than 208 millions ; while 
the Muhammadans are 57 millions. There are over 7 million 
Buddhists, but nearly all of these are in Burma, where, out of a 
population of 7 millions, nearly 7 millions profess that religion. 
It is, however, noteworthy that in some of the Shan States of 
Burma there are more Hindus than Buddhists. 

There are 2 million Sikhs, nearly all in the Panjab; while, of 
the 1 million Jains, about two-thirds live in Rajputana and the 
Bombay Presidency. There are about 00,000 Parsis, of whom 
nearly 77,000 live in the Bombay Presidency. Of the 2% million 
Christians, Madras contains more than 1^ million; while of the 
17,000 Jews, over 13,500 live in Bombay. 

3. Public Instruction. The census returns of 1891 show 
that, out of a population of 288 millions, about 246^ millions can 
neither read nor write. More than 12 millions are able to read 



190 APPENDIX. 

and write-; and considerably over 3 millions are under instruction 
in the various schools and colleges of the country. 

There are 5 universities, those of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, 
Allahabad, and the Panjab ; and the great extension of academic 
instruction, since the founding of the University of Calcutta by 
Lord Dalhousie in 1855, is shown by the fact that there are now 
160 colleges, with over 18,000 students. About 3,000 under- 
graduates, on an average, annually enter the University of Cal- 
cutta, and about 2,000 that of Madras ; while over 1,000 enter 
Bombay University yearly, and nearly 1,000 each those of 
Allahabad and the Panjab. There are over 143,000 schools, and 
more than 4 million scholars ; and about 600 of the schools are 
technical schools, including some of the most important medical 
schools in the world. 

There are 598 newspapers published in the vernacular languages, 
17 different languages being thus represented in the Indian Press. 

4. Agriculture. Out of 288 millions of inhabitants, nearly 
200 millions are engaged in agricultural or allied pursuits. The 
largest crop is that of the millets and inferior food-grains ; ,pext 
to which comes rice, and then wheat. More than 20 million acres 
are at present under wheat cultivation, chiefly in the Panjab, the 
Central Provinces, the North- Western Provinces, and Bombay ; 
and much of this wheat is exported. Cotton and oil-seeds 
respectively occupy about 10 million acres each ; the former being 
chiefly grown on the black cotton soil of the Barars and the 
adjacent districts of Bombay, Madras, and Central India. 

Agriculture is encouraged by the Government, by (1) great 
systems of irrigation, (2) model and experimental farms, (3) 
takdm advances to cultivators i.e., advances of money at a low 
rate of interest for minor agricultural works and the improvement 
of estates, and (4) the introduction of new crops or improved 
varieties of the old crops. 

Sugar-cane is largely grown, and much sugar is also obtained 
from the sugar-palm. The cocoanut-palm produces both cocoa- 
nuts and coir (for matting, cordage, &c.), while " toddy " (or tart) 
is tapped from the Palmyra palm, the leaves of which are also 
used, with those of the talipot-palm, for the manufacture of fans. 
The betelnut-palm is cultivated for the sake of the nut, which ia 
commonly chewed. 

Millions of bamboos are yearly exported from the North- 



APPENDIX. 191 

Western Provinces down the Ganges. The commonest species 
has stems forty to eighty feet high, which are used for every 
purpose in which lightness and strength of wood are required. 

Tobacco, opium, tea and coft'ee, indigo, and jute are also 
important crops. Two intoxicating drugs, called bhang and ganjd, 
are made from two varieties of hemp. Lentils (ddl) and many 
forms of melon are largely cultivated for food ; while a kind of 
bean (dhdnd or channa) is chiefly grown as food for cattle, horses, 
and sheep, though it is sometimes eaten by the people. 

5. Forests, There is a State Department charged with the 
duty of preserving and improving the forests of India. Teak is 
the best timber, and is largely cultivated ; it grows wild on the 
Western Ghats, in the north-east of the Deccan, and in Burma. 
Sal is a timber-tree that often grows to the height of 100 feet. 
The beautiful and fragrant sandal- wood is indigenous in Mysore 
and some other parts of Southern India. The deodar, or 
Himalayan cedar, is abundant in the Himalaya and other 
mountains ; and the beautiful rhododendrons and tree-ferns are 
characteristic of the higher mountain-slopes. 

The large fig-trees, such as the banyan and the sacred pipul, 
abound in India. The former is well known for its habit of 
dropping roots from its branches, which strike upwards as well as 
downwards on reaching the ground, so that one tree becomes a 
grove. Another valuable fig-tree is the indiarubber-tree, which 
grows wild in the jungles of Assam ; the indiarubber, or 
caoutchouc, flows from its aerial roots. 

6. Mines. The mineral wealth of India lies mainly in its 
magnificent coal-seams, its salt-mines, and iron-fields. 

There are four great groups of Indian coal-fields (1) those of 
the Rajmahal hills and Damudar valley, near Raniganj, in 
Bengal ; (2) those in Chutia Nagpur and Rewah ; (3) those in 
the Narbada valley and the Satpura hills ; and (4) those in the 
valleys of the Godavari and Wardha. 

Iron occurs in many parts, and is found in immense quantities 
in Salem (Madras), at Lohara in the Chanda district of the 
Central Provinces, in Bundelkhand, in the Narbada valley, and 
elsewhere. 

The salt mines and quarries of the Salt Range in the Panjab 
are unequalled for richness in the world 



192 APPENDIX. 

Gold is mined in Mysore, and a few other places. Copper, 
lead, silver, and antimony are found largely in the Himalayas ; 
while in Tenasserim there are vast deposits of tin. 

7. Manufactures. Some of the manufactures for which 
India was once famous such as that of the fine muslins of 
Dacca have nearly died out. But in other manufactures and 
especially in that of cotton goods and jute the expansion of late 
years has been marvellous. One of the first cotton-mills in India 
was erected by Sir Dinshaw Petit, Baronet, about the year 1855 ; and 
now, in less than fifty years, there are nearly 200 mills, with about 
4 million spindles, at work. There are also at least 26 jute-mills, 
mostly in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, employing a large 
number of handsand an immense capital. The shawl manufacture of 
Kashmir and the Panjab is famous throughout the world ; so is the 
Indian art- work in silver ; and there are many similar industries. 

The other considerable manufactures are sugar, indigo, silk, 
and opium. 

8. Commerce. The external sea-borne commerce of India in 
the year 1834-35 was about 14 crores ; in the year 1897-*98 it 
was about 199 crores having increased on the average 20 - 11 
per cent, every year 1 

The exports are chiefly the raw products mentioned above 
wheat, rice, oil-seeds, cotton, opium, jute, tea, indigo, coffee, raw 
wool, hides, and skins. During the year ending March 31, 1898, 
the largest exports were rice and jute (raw), which were taken to 
the value of over 21 crores, largely to England. Of late years, 
however, there has been a rapidly increasing export of manu- 
factured cotton, jute, and silk goods, chiefly to China and 
Australia. 

By far the largest import is that of cotton goods from England, 
which in the year 1897-98 were valued at more than 28 crores. 
Next in value came the imports of metals, hardware, and cutlery 
(7 crores in value) ; silk (.3 crores) ; oils (over 4 crores) ; sugar 
(nearly 5 crores) ; woollen-goods, railway plant and rolling-stock, 
nearly 3 crores ; machinery and mill-plant (nearly 3 crores) ; 
chemicals, provisions, and apparel, each about 1J crores. 

There is also a considerable land trade across the frontier, with 
Afghanistan, Thibet, Central Asia, China, and Siam ; amounting 
altogether to over 9 croros in 1897-98. 



APPENDIX. 193 

India imports yearly, and absorbs, a vast quantity of gold and 
silver, amounting on an average to considerably more than 10 
crores per annum. 

9. Railways. There are more than 150,000 miles of roads 
maintained by public authorities in India ; and the great rivers, 
and in Southern India the canals, are largely used for traffic. 
But of late years railways have been rapidly spreading over the 
country. In the year 1876 there were 6,833 miles of railway 
open ; whereas in 1891-92 the mileage open or sanctioned had 
increased to 18,879 miles, and in 1897-98 to 21,157 miles. 

During the year 1897 alone, 151,263,816 passengers travelled 
on the Indian railways ; and the tonnage of goods, &c., carried 
was 33,698,617 tons. The capital invested amounts to about 
300,000,000. The gross earnings during 1897 amounted to 
Rs.255,951,690, or over 255 lakhs. Of this, 125 lakhs were 
expended on the spot as working expenses, and the net earnings 
were at the rate of a little more than 5 per cent. 

Except in Burma, Rajputana, the Southern Mahratta country, 
and South India, most of the great trunk-lines of railways in 
India (with a mileage of about 10,000 miles) are constructed 
on the ' standard gauge ' that is, with a distance of 5^ feet be- 
tween the rails. Nearly all the other lines are constructed on 
what is called the ' metre gauge ' that is, with a distance of 
one French metre, or 3 ft. 3f in., between the rails. 

The main railway routes (most of which have many branches 
and feeders) are : 

(1) The East Indian Railway, from Calcutta to Allahabad; 
then (a) north-westward to Ghaziabad and Delhi ; and (6) south- 
westward to Jabalpur. 

(2) The North- Western Railway from Ghaziabad (Delhi) to 
Lahore ; and from Lahore northward to Peshawar, and westward 
to Quetta, and south-westward to Karachi. 

(3) The Great Indian Peninsular Railway, from Jabalpur to 
Kalyan and Bombay ; and from Kalyan to Raichur (for Madras); 
and from Bhusawal to Nagpur. 

(4) The Bengal-Nagpur Railway, from Asansol (on the East 
Indian Railway) to Nagpur. 

(5) The Southern Mahratta Railway, from Poona (or Puna), 
on the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, to Hubli, Bangalore, 
and Mysore ; and from Hutli (a) westward to Marmagao (on the 

o 



194 APPENDIX. 

sea, in the Portuguese territory of Goa), and (6) eastward to Gun- 
takal and Bellary. 

(6) The Madras Railway, from Raichur to Guntakal, Arkonam, 
and Madras, and from Arkonam to Jalarpet, and thence (a) west- 
ward to Bangalore, and (b) southward through the Palghat Pass, 
to Calicut on the Malabar coast. 

(7) The South Indian Railway, from Madras to Pondicherry, 
Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Erode, and Tuticorin (on the coast opposite 
Ceylon). 

(8) The Eastern Bengal Railway, from Calcutta to the Ganges 
at Goalando, and thence (a) to Siliguri and Darjiling, and (b) to 
Maiumnsingh. 

(9) The Nizam's State Railway t from Wadi to Hyderabad 
(or Haidarabad) and Bezwada. 

(10) The Burma Railway, from Rangoon to Prome, and from 
Rangoon to Mandalay. 

(11) The Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway, from 
Bombay to Ahmedabad and Wadhwan. 

(12) The Rajputana-Malwa Railway, from Ahmedabad to 
Ajmir, and thence to (a) Delhi and (b) Cawnpore ; and from Ajmir 
to Ujjain and Khandwa (on the Great Indian Peninsular Railway). 

(13) The Indian Midland Railway, from Bhopal to Jhansi, 
and thence (a) to Gwalior and Agra, (b) to Manikpur, and (c) 
to Cawnpore. 

(14) The Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway, from Mughul Sarai 
(Benares) to Saharanpur. 

Besides the above lines of first-rate importance, there are 
a large number of railways in every part of the country. 
Many of these are in the Feudatory States ; some have been 
constructed by the Feudatory chiefs, after the example of 
the Nizam's State Railway. Thus, the Maharaja Gaekwar of 
Baroda has several railways ; so have the Maharajas of Jodhpur, 
Kashmir, Gwalior, Indore, Bhaunagar, Gondal, Morvi, and Her 
Highness the Nawab Begum of Bhopal. 

10. Existing Forms of Imperial, Provincial, and Municipal 
Government. At the beginning of Part I. of this Appendix it 
was stated that the Indian Empire is a Federation of States, 
under the supreme rule of Her Majesty the Queen, Empress of 
India. This supreme rule is constitutionally exercised immediately 
through the Secretary of State for India, in London, who is 



APPENDIX. 195 

responsible to the British Parliament, and has the benefit of the 
advice of a Council, consisting of about twelve members, most of 
whom have been officers of the Government in India. The 
Secretary of State has the ultimate control of the Queen's repre- 
sentative in India, who is commonly called the Viceroy of India, 
but is officially styled ' the Governor-General in Council.' 

The Imperial authority in India is vested in ' the Governor- 
General in Council ' that is, the Viceroy or Governor-General, 
as advised by his Executive Council, whose members are appointed 
by the Crown. 

NOTE. This Executive Council must be distinguished from the 
Legislative Council (of which it forms a part) noticed below. 

The EXECUTIVE COUNCIL "consists of five ordinary members 
who preside respectively over the (1) Home, (2) Finance and 
Commerce, (3) Revenue and Agriculture, (4) Military, and (5) 
Legislative Departments and a Public Works member, whose 
post may be left vacant at the option of the Viceroy. The Com- 
mander-in-Chief may be, and in practice always is, appointed by 
the Crown to be an Extraordinary member of the Council ; and 
the Governors of Bombay and Madras, and the Lieutenant- 
Governors of Bengal, the North- Western Provinces, and the 
Panjab, become Extraordinary members of Council whenever the 
Council is convened within their Provinces. The department of 
Foreign Affairs including all affairs connected with the Feudatory 
States is usually under the immediate control of the Viceroy. 
Each member of Council has a secretary and other officers sub- 
ordinate to him in his own department, through whom he carries 
out the administration of the affairs of the Empire in that depart- 
ment. 

The LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL of the Viceroy has lately been in- 
creased and reorganised (in accordance with the Indian Councils 
Act of 1892) under new rules, that were announced by Lord 
Lansdowne on March 16, 1893. It will henceforward consist of 
the Executive Council, together with sixteen ' additional members 
for making laws and regulations,' of whom ten will be non- 
officials. Of these ten, four are to be appointed by the Viceroy ; one 
each to be elected by the Legislative Councils of Bengal, Bombay, 
Madras, and the North- Western Provinces ; one to be chosen by 
the Chambers of Commerce ; and one by the Calcutta Bar. Sub- 
ject to certain conditions, questions may be publicly asked of the 

02 



196 APPENDIX. 

Government by any member of the Legislative Council, and 
must be replied to, unless the Viceroy certifies that it would be 
injurious to the public interest to give a reply. Further, the 
Budget will be debated by the Council ; and its debates will be 
carried on in public. The laws passed by the Viceroy's Legisla- 
tive Couneil may apply to the whole of the Indian Empire (in- 
cluding Burma), or may be specially restricted to certain parts. 

The PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS have been enumerated in 
Part I. of this Appendix. The Governors of Bombay and Madras 
have each a Council of their own, both executive and legislative ; 
they also have each an army with a separate Commander-in-Chief, 
and their own Civil Service. The Lieutenant-Governors of Ben- 
gal, the North- West Provinces, the Panjab, and Burma, have 
each a Legislative Council, to make laws (subject to the approval 
of the Government of India) for his own Province ; but the other 
heads of Governments have no councils and no local powers of 
legislation, but are directly under the Government of India. 

Under the local heads of Government in British India there 
are Commissioners of Divisions (except in Madras; ; and each 
Division is divided into a number of Districts, which is the 
administrative unit of India. Including the recently annexed 
17 districts of Upper Burma, there are 252 districts in British 
India. 

The constitution of the PROVINCIAL LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS 
those of Bengal, Madras, Bombay, and the North- Western 
Provinces was reformed by the Act of 1892, referred to above. 
Lord Lansdowne, in March, 1893, thus described the changes : 

The new rules for provincial Councils would be published immedi- 
ately, and he would summarise those referring to Bengal. The number 
of additional members of that Council was fixed at twenty, being the 
maximum number that the Act allowed, of whom not more than ten 
would be officials ; the other ten would be non-officials. The 
Lieutenant-Governor would nominate seven members on the recom- 
mendation of (a) the Calcutta Corporation ; (6) such other corporations 
or groups of corporations as he might from time to time prescribe ; (c) 
such district boards or groups as would be prescribed ; (d) such associa- 
tions of merchant*, manufacturers, and tradesmen as would be pre- 
scribed ; and (e) the Senate of the Calcutta University. The rules 
further provided that the Lieutenant-Governor might nominate the re- 
maining three in such a manner as would secure a fair representation of 
(he different classes, one seat being ordinarily held by a representative 



APPENDIX. 197 

of the great landholders. The rules for the other Provinces were 
conceived in the same spirit. 

Each district in Bengal has a Collector and Magistrate, who is 
the executive head of the district, and is responsible (through the 
Commissioner) to the Provincial Government at Calcutta ; it also 
has a Judge, a Superintendent of Police, and many other officers 
of the Government in the various departments of State. And a 
similar state of affairs exists in the other Provinces. 

In the FEUDATORY STATES the sovereign power, within certain 
limits, is in the hands of the Prince, often aided by a Council of 
Ministers appointedby himself with the assent of the Government 
of India. These Princes bear various titles such as His High- 
ness the Nizam of Haidarabad, His Highness the Maharaja of 
Mysore, His Highness the Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda. The 
closeness of their relations with the Paramount Power and the 
character of their Government varies in the "different States. In 
some of the greater States there is a regular constitutional 
Ministry, with a Diwdn, or Prime Minister, at its head, by whom 
the State is governed under the authority of the ruling Prince, 
and by whom tho business of the State is transacted, both with 
the subjects of the State and with the Government of India, In 
all cases the Feudatory States are governed with the help and 
advice of a Resident, or Agent, of the Paramount Power, who is 
in poh'tical charge either of a single State or of a group of States. 
But the more important chiefs possess absolute sovereign power 
in their territories, which is exercised without interference from 
the Government of India or its officers except on certain specified 
points, such as foreign affairs, peace and war, embassies, dealiogs 
with other States or with Europeans on a general understanding 
that actual misgovernment cannot be permitted. Some of the 
chiefs pay a tribute annually, but not all. 

One of the most interesting features of Indian development 
during the last few years has been the vast extension of LOCAL 
SELF-GOVERNMENT, in the growth of DISTRICT and LOCAL BOARDS 
in the rural districts, and of MUNICIPALITIES or Municipal Cor- 
porations in the towns and cities. 

Lord Mayo was the first ruler to give great encouragement to 
this development; and under the Viceroyalties of Lord North- 
brook and Lord Lytton it had grown so much, that before Lord 
Lytton's retirement there were no fewer than 894 municipalities 
in various parts of the ccmntry hi addition to those in the three 



198 APPENDIX. 

great Presidency cities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras with 
an aggregate population of about fourteen millions, and directing 
the raising and expenditure locally of vast sums of money. 

Under Lord Kipon's rule this development was still further 
encouraged by the Local Self-government Acts of 1882-84, by 
which the elective principle has been extended, more or less fully, 
to all parts of India. At the present day, under Lord Curzon, 
in all the larger towns, and in many of the smaller, the majority 
of the members of the Municipal Corporations are elected by the 
ratepayers ; and everywhere the townsmen themselves, and not the 
European or Indian officials, constitute the majority. In March, 
1897, there were 764 municipal towns of this character, with a 
population of nearly 16 millions. The Municipal Corporations have 
charge of the roads, water, drains, markets, and sanitation. They 
levy rates and enact bye-laws the sanction of the Provincial 
Government being first obtained before any new rates or taxes 
are levied, or new bye-laws enacted ; and they are charged with 
the duty of making improvements generally, and of spending the 
local revenues for the benefit of the locality and the public. * 

Similarly, in all the rural districts, except in Burma, there are 
District and Local Boards, which have the charge of schools, 
hospitals, roads, and local business generally. 




INDEX. 



ABD 

ABDUR RAHMAN, the Amir, 166 

Aboriginal Tribes of India, 187 

Abu, Mount, 28, 182 

Abul Fazl, 64 

Adil Shahi Dynasty of Bijapur, 49 

Adisiira, 31 

Afghan War, the First, 110 

the Second, 165 

Afghanistan, or Kabul, 139 
Afzal Khan, Murder of, 79 
Agnikulas, the, 28 
Agra 174 
Battle of, 71 
Agriculture of India, 190 
Ahalya Bai, 87 
Ahmad Shah Abdali, 75 
Ahmadnagar, 50, 62, 177 
Ajmir, 30, 37, 179 
Akbar, 56 
Akmahal, 173 

- Battle of, 61 
Akyab, 172 
Ala-ud-din Khilji, 44 
Albuquerque, 94 
Alexander's Invasion, 23 

All Virdi, Khan of Bengal, 74, 102 
Aliwal, 175 

- Battle of, 146 
Allahabad, 174 
Altemsh, 42 
Amarkot, 56, 177 
Ambalah, 175 
Amber, see Jaipur 
Ambur, Battle of, 99 
Amherst, Lord, 136 

Amir Khan, the Pindari, 133 



BAH 

Ananda Bai, 88 

Andaman Islands, 11, 163, 179 

Andhrn, race of Kings, the, 29 

Anga, 186 

Anwar-ud-din, 98 

Appa Saheb, 134 

Arakan, 171, 172 

Aravali Hills, the, 6, 180 

Arcot, 179 

the Defence of, 100 

Argaon, 178 

Arikera, Battle of, 122 

Arrah, 173 

Aryan-Hindus, the, 187 

Aryavartta, 15 

Asirgarh, 178 

Asoka, the Edicts of, 26 

Assai, 91, 183 

Assam, 172 

Atak, see Attock 

Attock, 175 

Auckland, Lord, 145 

Aurangabad, 183 

Aurangzeb, 69 

Avatais, 28 

Ayodhya, the Birthplace of Rama, 

17, 174 
Ayub Khan, 166 



BABAB, 52 

Bactrian Greeks, the, 25 

Baghelkhand, 185 

Bagri, 186 

Bahadur Shah, 71 

Bahmani Dynasty, the, 49 



200 



INDEX. 



BAI 

Bairam Khan, 58 

Baji Rao, the Second Peshwa, 83 

Baji Rao II., the Seventh and Last 

Peshwa, 90 
Balaghat, the, 178 
Balaji Baji Rao, the Third Peshwa,85 
Balaji Viswanath, the First Peshwa, 

82 

Balasor, 173 
Balban, 42 
Ballala Sena, 31 
Baluchistan, 1, 2, 144, 176 
Banga, 186 
Banga-des, 186 
Barars, places of historical interest 

in, 178 

Band Shabi Dynasty of Bidar, 50 
Baroda, 163, 164, 176 
Bassein, 177 

stormed by Goddard, 89 

Treaty of, 90, 129 
Bastar, 177 

Baxar, 173 

Battle of, 110 

Begums of Oudh, the, 115, 117 

Benares,. 174 

Bengal, Hindu Kings of, 31 

- laeutenant-Governorship of, 172 
- Muhammadan Kings of, 50 
Bengal Proper, places of historical 

interest in, 173 
Bentinck, Lord William, 139 
Bhagirathi River, 173 
Bhamo, 172 
' Bhao, the,' 86 
Bhartpur, 181 

Siege of, 92 

Storming of, 136 
Bhils. the, 181, 187 
Bhilsa Topes, the, 182 
Bhonsle' Dynasty, the, 85 
Bhopal, 182 

Bhutan, 184 

- War, 162 
Bidar, 50, 183 

Bihar, places of historical interest 

in, 173 

Bijapur, 49, 50, 79, 177 
Bijnor, 174 
Bikanir, 31 



CHA 

Bikram Singh, Sardar, 155 

Black Hole, the, 104 

Bolan Pass, the, 2, 143, 166, 176 

Bolaram, 183 

Bombay given to Charles II., 96 

Bombay Presidency, places of his- 
torical interest in the, 177 

Boughton, Dr., 95 

Boundaries, 1 

Brahman Power, Rise of the, 16 

Brahmanic Age, the, 18 

Brahmarshi-desa, 15 

Brahmavartta, 14 

British India, Divisions of, 169 

Buddha (Sakya Muni or Gautama), 
22 

Buddhist Scriptures, the, 23 

Bull and Horseman Dynasty, the, 
33 n. 

Bundelkhand, 185 

Burdwan (or Bardwan), 173 

Burhanpur, 178 fc 

Burmah, 171 

Annexation of Upper, 169 

Burmah War, the First, 134 

the Second, 150 

the Third, 167, 168 

Bussy, 99 



CALCUTTA, 173 

Capture of, by Siraj-ud-daulah, 
103 

Foundation of, 96 
Calicut, 12, 93, 179 
Campbell, Sir Colin, 159 
Cannanore, 179 
Canning, Lord, 160, 161 
Carnatic, Wars in the, 98 

Annexation of the, 128 
Caste- system, the, 19 
Cawnpore, 153, 156, 158, 174 
Central India Agency, the, 182 
Central Provinces, the, 177 
Ceylon (Singhala or Lanka), 1 85 
Chait Singh, 115 

Chanar, 116, 174 
Chand Bibi, 62 
Chanda Saheb, 98 
Chanderi, Storming of, 52 



INDEX. 



201 



CHA 

Chandernagar, 173, 184 

Chandragupta, 25 

Chandwa, 174 

Changama, Battle of, 119 

Chatgaon, 173 

Chausa, 173 

Chauth, 80 

Cherry, Assassination of Mr., 125 

Chillian wallah, Battle of, 149, 175 

China War, 159 

Chingalpat, 179 

Chinsurah, 173 

Chitor, 181 

Sack of, 45 
Chittagong, 173 
Chola Dynasty, the, 31 
Chutia (or Chota) Nagpur, 173 

Tributary Mahals, the, 174 
Circars, the Northern, 179 
Cis-Satlej States, the, 175 
Clive, 100 et seq. 

Clyde, Lord, see Campbell, Sir Colin 
Cochin, 12, 179 
Colar. see Kolar 
Commerce of India, 192 
Congress, see National Congress 
Conjeveram, 31, 179, 186 
Coorg, 137, 179 
Cornwallis, Lord, 121 
Coromandel Coast, the, 178 
Cuddalore, 179 
Curzon, Lord, 169 
Cutch, see Kutch 
Cuttack, see Katak 

DACCA, 173 

Dakhin (or Deccan), the, 3 

Ancient Hiudii Kingdom in the, 44 
Dalhousie, Lord, 148 

Daman, 184 
Darsanas, the Six, 21 
Daiid, King of Bengal, 61 
Daulatabad, 44, 183 
Dehli, 157, 175 

Battle of, 91 

Siege of, 156, 157 
Delhi, see Dehli 
Deogarh, see Daulatabad 
Deogiri, see Daulatabad 
Dewal Devi, 45 



GAN 

Dig, Battle of, 92, 182 

Diu, 184 

Divine Faith, the,' of Akbar, 63 

Diwani, Grant of the, 111 

Doab, the, 185 

Dost Muhammad, 140 

Do'uble Batta, 138 

Double Government, the, 112 

Dramatic Poetry, Sanskrit, 160 

Draupadi, 18 

Dravida, 186 

Dravidian-Hindus, the, 187 

Dufferin, Lord, 167 

Dupleix, 97 

Dutch in India, the, 94 

Dwara Samudra, 44 

EAST INDIA COMPANY founded, 95 

- rule abolished, 160 
Edinburgh, H.K.H. the Duke of, 

163 

Edwardes, Sir Herbert, 149 
Elgin, Lord, 161, 169 
Ellenborough, Lord, 145 
Ellora, 183 
Empress, Proclamation of Her 

Majesty as, 164 
English declared the Paramount 

Power in India, the, 136 
Epic Poetry, Sanskrit, 160 
Extent of India, 1 
Eyre Coote, Sir, 101 

FAIZABAD, 174 

Farrukh Siyar, 71 

Fathpur Sikri, Battle of, 52, 174 

Ferozepore, see Firuzpur 

Ferozeshah, see Firuzshahr 

Feudatory States, 171, 180, 197 

Firuzpur, 143, 175 

Firuzshahr, 175 

Battle of, 146 

Forests of India, 191 

Fort St. David, 179 

Francis, Sir Philip, 114 

GAGBON, 182 
Gaikwar, the, 85 
Gakkhars, 187 
Gandak Kiver the, 172 



202 



INDEX. 



GAN 

Gandamak, 176 

Treaty of, 166 
Ganga Vansa, the, 32 
Garhwal, 174 
Gaubati, 172 

Gaur, 31, 173 
Gautama, Buddha, 22 
Gawilgarh, 178 
Gehlot Dynasty, the, 30 
Ghargaon, 172 
Ghats, the Eastern, 8 

- the Western, 7, 8, 1 77 
Ghazipur, 174 

Ghazni, Storming of, 140 

Ghilji, 186 

Ghor, 186 

Ghulam Kadir, 77 

Ginji, 99, 179 

Goa, 184 

Goddard, Colonel, 89 

Goha, 30 

Golkondah, 50, 183 

Gonds, the, 178, 187 

Gondwana, 178 

Gorakhpur, 174 

Gough, Sir Hugh, 147 

Government, Imperial, 194 

Municipal, 197 

Provincial, 196 

Greeks Accounts of India, 25 
Greeks in India, the, 23 
Gujarat, 176 

Battle of, 149, 175 
Gulab Singh. 147 
Gulbargah, 49, 183 
Gumsur, 179 
Guntur, 179 

Guru of the Sikhs, the, 72 
Gwaliar, see Gwalior 
Gwalior, 58, 84, 156, 159, 182 

HAIDAR Aii of Mysore, 118 
Haidarabad, or the Nizam's Domi- 
nions, 73, 74, 85, 90, 98, 122, 
126, 128, 155, 156, 167, 178, 183 

- (Sindh), Battle of, 144, 177 
Harbours of India, 12 
Hardinge, Lord, 145 

Hari Pant, 123 
Hastinapura, 17 



JUM 

Hastings, "Warren, 113 

the Marquis of, 132 
Hazaribagh, 173 
Hazipur, 173 

Hemu, 59 
Herat, 184 

Hindustani Language, I he, 187 
Hiouen Thsang, 27 
Historians, Muhammadan, 160 
Holkar, 84, 87, 91, 182 
Honawar, 177 
Honore, see Honawar 
Hooghly, see Hugli 
Hugli River the, 173 
- Town and District, 173 
Humayun, 54 
Husain Sagar, the, 183 
Hyderabad, see Haidarabad 

IBAB, 31 
Ilichpur, 178 

' Illustrious Garrison of Jalala- 
bad,' the, 143 * 
Imad Shahi Dynasty of Barar, 50 
Impey, Sir Elijah, 114 
Indian Councils Act, 168 
Indore (or Indor), 84, 87, 91, 182 
Instruction, Public, in India, 189 
Irawadi Kiver, the, 172 
Islamabad, 173 

JABALPUR, 178 

Jagirs and Jagirdars, 62 

Jahandar Shah, 71 

Jahangir, 65 

.Tahangirnagar, 173 

Jainas, or Jains, the, 27, 173 

Jaipur, 60, 156, 180, 181 

Jajpur, 173 

Jalalabad, Defence of, 142 

Jalangi River, the, 173 

Jam nah River, the, 174 

Jaunpur, 174 

Kingdom of, 51 
Jhansi, 149, 153 
Jharkhand, 185 
Jhind, 175 

Jiziah, the, 64, 69, 70 
Jodhpur, 31, 61, 73, 180, 181 
Jumna, see Jamnah 



INDEX. 



203 



KAB 

KABUL, 141, 142, 165, 166, 184, 186 
Kacb, see Kutch 
Kaikubad, 43 
Kalat, 176, 184 
Kalidasa, 174 
Kalinga, 186 
Kamrup, 186 
Kamthi, 178 
Kanauj, 174 
Battle of, 55 

Kanchipuram, see Conjeveram 
Kangrah, 175 
Kanhpur, see Cawnpore 
Kanyakubja, see Kanauj 
Kapila, 186 
Kapilavastu, 22, 186 
Kapiirthala, 155, 175 
Karachi, 13, 177 
Karnal, 175 

Battle of, 75 
Kashi, 186 
Kashmir, 175 

given to Gulab Singh by the Eng- 
lish, 147 

Kasimbazar, 173 

Katak (or Cuttack), 173 

Khaibar Pass, the, 2, 143, 166, 175 

Khdlsd, the, 145 

Khsrki, 183 

Khasi and Jaintia Hills, 172 

Khilji, 186 

Dynasty in Dehli, the, 43 
Khirki, 177 

Kishangarh, Maharaja of, 31 
Kolar, 184 

Konkan, the, 176, 177, 186 
Kosala, 186 
Krishna, 17 

Krishnagar (or Kishnaghur), 173 
Kshatriyas, the, 16 
Kuch Bihar, 174 
Kulbargah, see G-ulbargah 
Kumaon, 174 
Kurdla, Battle of, 89 
- Treaty of, 90 
Kurg, see Coorg 
Kurukshetra, 18 ., 175 
Kurus, the, 17 

Kutb Shahi Dynasty of Golkondah, 
50 



MAH 



Kutch, 4, 176 
Rann of, 176 



LABOTTRDONNAIS, 98 
Laccadive Islands, 185 
Lahore, 175 
Lake, Lord, 91 
Lakhmaniya, 31 
Laknau, see Lucknow 
Laknauti, 173 
Lally, Count, 101 
Languages of India, 188, 189 
Lanka, 185 
Las Bela, 176 
Laswari, Battle of, 91, 181 
Lawrence, Sir Henry, 158 

Sir John (Lord), 154, 162 
Lodi Dynasty of Dehli, the, 47 
Lucknow, 174 

Defence of, 158 

Belief of, by Havelock, 159 

Second Belief of, by Lord Clyde, 
159 

Lytton, Lord, 164 



MlCHHTWARAH, 175 

Battle of, 52 

Macnaghten, Assassination of, 141 

Madhya-desa, 15 

Madra, 186 

Madras, Foundation of, 96 

Presidency, places of historical 
interest in the, 179 

Madu Rao, the Fourth Peshwa, 87 
Madu Bao Narayana, the Sixth 

Peshwa, 89 
Madura, 179 
Magadha, the Kingdom of, 25, 173, 

186 

Mahabat Khan, 67 
Mahabharata, the, 17 
Mahakosala, 186 
Mahanadi Biver, the, 173 
Maharaja Adbiraj, 30 
Maharajpur, Battle of, 145, 182 
Maharashtra, 77, 176 
Mahidpur, Battle of, 134, 182 
Mahmud, Sultan of Ghazni, 34 



204 



INDEX. 



MAH 

Mahratta Confederacy, the, 84 

Ditch, the, 96 

War, the First, 89 
the Second, 90 

the Third, 91 

Mai war, see Udaipur 
Makhsusabad, 173 
Malabar, 179 

Coast, the, 12, 178, 179 
Malakuta, 186 

Malda, 173 
Maldive Islands, 185 
Malik Ambar, 65 

Kafur, 44 
Mallavelli, Battle of, 127 
Man Singh, the Kaja, 60 
Manchu Tartars, 32 n. 
Mandalay, 172 
Mangalore, 12 

Treaty of, 121 

Manipur Insurrection, the, 168 

Manu, the Laws of, 18 

Manufactures of India, 192 

Marwar, see Jodhpur 

Marwaris, the. 181 

Masulipatam, 179 

Mathura, 174 

Mau, 183 

Mayo, Lord, 162 

Meerut, 157, 174 

Aferiah, Human Sacrifices, the, 148 

Merkara, 179 

Metcalfe, Sir Charles, 139 

Mewar, see Udaipur 

Mewat, 185 

Mhow, see Mau 

Miani, Battle of, 144, 177 

Mihruunisa Khanum (afterwards 

the Empress Nur Jahan), 66 
Mines of India, 191 
Mir Jumlah, 69 
MirKasim, 109 
Mirath, see Meerut 
Mirjafar, 106, 109 
Mithila, 173, 186 
Moulmein, 172 
Mudki, Battle of, 146, 176 
Mughuls, the, 32 n. 
Muhammad Ali, Nawab of the Car- 

natic, 99 



NON 

Muhammad Grhori, 38 

Muhammad Shah (or Kaushanakh- 
tar), 72 

Muhammadan Conquest of Hindu- 
stan, the, 40 

Multan, Siege of, 149, 175 

Munger, 173 

Murshidabad, 173 

Muttra, see Mathura 

Muzaffar Jang, 98 

Mysore, places of historical interest 
in, 183, 184 

Mysore War, the First, 119 

the Second, 120 

the Third, 121 

the Fourth, 121 

NABHA, 175 

Nadir Shah, Invasion of, 74 

Nadiya, 173 

Nagurkot, see Kangrah 

Nagpur, 148, 178 

Annexation of, 150 
Nana Farnavis, 88 
Nana Saheb, the, 163 
Nandakumar, 114 
Nandidrug, 184 
Napier, Sir Charles, 167 

- Lord, 157 

Narayana Kao, the Fifth Peshwa, 

88 

National Congress, 168 
Nazib-ud-daulah, 76 
Nearchus, 24 
Neemuch, see Nimach 
Nepal, 184 

War, the, 132 
Newspapers of India, 190 
Nicholson, 155 
Nikobar Islands, 179 
Nimach, 182 

Nirvana, 22 

Nizam of Haidarabad, the First 

(Nizam-ul-Mulk), 73 
Nizam Shahi Dynasty of Ahmad- 

nagar, 50 
Nizam's Dominions (Haidarabad), 

places of historical interest in 

the, 183 
Non-intervention Policy, the, 124 



INDKX. 



205 



NOR 

Northbrook, Lord, ] 63 

North- Western Provinces, the, 175 

places of historical interest 

in, 174 

Nott, General, 143 
Nundydroog, see Nandidrug 
Nur Jahan, the Empress, 65 



ODEA, 185 

Orissa, Acquisition of, 129 

places of historical interest in, 
173 

Tributary Mahals, the, 174 
Oudh, Annexation of, 150 

places of historical interest in, 174 



PAGAHN, Battle of, 136 
Palghat Pass, the, 179 
Palibothra, 173 
Panchala, 186 
Panduah, Great, 173 
Pandus, the, 17 
Pandya Dynasty, the, 31 
Panipat, 175 

First Battle of, 48 

Second Battle of, 59 

Third Battle of, 76, 86 
Panjab, the, 175, 185 

Derivation of the Name, 5 

places of historical interest in, 
175 

Annexation of the, 150 
Panniar, Battle of, 145, 182 
Paradis, 98 

Parisnath, 173 
Pataliputra, 173 
Pathans, or Afghans, the, 48 
Patiala, 131, 155, 175 
Patna, 173 

First Battle of, 109 

Second Battle of, 110 

Massacre of, 110 
Patriarchal Age in India, the, 14 
Pegu, 172 

Annexation of, 150 
Penal Code, 161 

Permanent Settlement of Bengal, 
the, 123 



RAN 

Persian Invasion, 23 

War, 159 
Peshawar, 1, 175 
Peshwas, the, 83 
Philosophy. Hindu, 21 
Pindari War, the, 133 
Pishin, 176 

Pitt's India Bill, 118 
Plassey (or Palasi), 173 

Battle of, 107 
Pollilor, Battle of, 120 
Pollock, General, 143 
Pondicherry, 179, 184 

Foundation of, 97 
Poona, see Puna 
Pooree, see Puri 
Port Blair, 179 

Porto Novo, Battle of, 120, 179 

Portuguese Power in India, the, 94 

Pragjaitishpur, 172 

Presidency, the term, 96, 170 

Presidency College, Calcutta, Foun- 
dation of, 151 

Prince of Wales, Visit of H.E.H. 
the, 163 

Prithvi Raja, 37 

Proclamation, the Queen's, 160 

Puna, 85, 177 

Punjab, see Panjab 

Puranas, the, 27 

Purandhar, Fort, 80, 177 

Treaty of, 80 
Puri, 173 

QUETTA, 1, 176 

KACES of India, 188, 189 
Raghoba, 88 

Eailways in India, 151, 193 
Raisin, 183 
Rajapur, Battle of, 85 
Rajmahal, 173 

Rajputana, places of historical in- 
terest in, 180, 181 
Ram Sastri, 86 
Ramayana, the, 1 7 
Rammohan Rai, 138 
Rampur (N.W.P.), 174 
Ranchi, 173 
Rangoon, 172 



206 



INDEX. 



RAN 

Eanjit Singh, 131 
Kara, 186 

Raziah, the Empress, 42 
Regulating Act, the, 114 
Religions of India, 189 
Rent Act, 161 
Rewah, 182 
Ripou, Lord, 166 
Roe, Sir Thomas, 67 
Roh, 187 

Rohilkhand, 174, 185 
Rohilla War, the, 113 
Rohtas, 173 
Rose, Sir Hugh, 160 



SAADAT KHAN (the first indepen- 
dent Nawab-Vazir of Oudh), 74 
Sabaktigin, 32 
Sahsaram, 173 
Sahu, 82 

Sakuntala, the, 174 
Salabat Jang, 85, 99 
Salar Jang, Sir, 155 
Salbai, Treaty of, 89 
Sale, General, 143 
Silivahana, 30 
Salsette, 177 
Sambhal, 185 
Santal Parganahs, the, 173 
Santals, the, 187 
Snraswati River, the, 14, 175 
Satara, 84, 149, 177 
Satgaon, 173 
Sati, 25, 138 
Saurashtra, 186 

Sayyid Dynasty of Dehli, the, 47 
Sayyids, the Two, 72 
Secunderabad, 183 
Sedasir, Battle of, 127 
Sehore, 183 

Sepoy Mutiny, the, 152 
Serampore, 184 
Seringapatam, 184 
First Siege of, 123 
Second Siege of, 127 
Shah Alam I. (Bahadur Shah), 76 
Shah Alam II., 76, 109, 110, 111 
Shah Jahin, 67, 68 
Shah Shuja, 140 



TAX 

Shahabad, 173 

Shabab-ud-din (Muhammad Ghori), 

38 

Shuhpur (Barar), 178 
--the Battle of, 72 
Shan Tribes, the, 172 
Sher Afkan, 66 
Sher Ali, the Amir, 165 
Sher Sur, 55 
Shillong, 172 
Shore, Sir John, 124 
Sikh Power in Panjab, Rise of the, 

130 
Sikh War, the First, 145 

the Second, 148 

Sikhs, Origin of the, 72 
Sikkim, 184 
Sind, see Sindh 
Sindh, 4, 176 

Annexation of, 143 
Sindia, 84, 150, 159, 182 
Siraj-ud-daulah, 103 
Sirhind, 18, 38, 175 

Battle of, 75 
Sivaji, 78 

Slave-kings of Dehli, the, 39 

Sobraou, Battle of, 147, 175 

Solingarh, Battle of, 120 

Somnath, Temple of, 34 

Sorath, see Saurashtra 

Sources of early Indian History 13 

Srirangam, 179 

the Capitulation of the French 
at, 101 

Strachey, Sir John, 157 
Strathnairn, Lord, see Rose, Sir 

Hugh 

Subah and Subahdar, 68 
Subsidiary System, the, 125 
Sunargaon, 173 
Supreme Court, the, 115 
Surat, 177 



TAJ MAHA.LL, the, 68 
Talikot, Battle of, 50 
Tanjore, 179 
Tantia Topi, 153 
Tatta, 177 
Taxila, 175 



INDEX. 



207 



TEL 

Teliagarhi, 173 
Telingana, 186 
Tenasserim, 11, 172, 179 
Tbaneswar, 175 
- Battles of, 39 
Thuggee, 138 

Timur the Tartar, Invasion of, 45 
Tippii, Sultan of Mysore, 120 
Tiraori, 38, 175 
Tirhut, 173 
Todar Mall, 64 
Travancor, see Tra van core 
Travancore, 122, 179 
Trichinapalli, 101, 179 
Trichinopoly, see Trichinapalli 
Trinomali, Battle of, 119 
Tripitaka (Buddhist Scriptures), 23 
Tudas, 187 

Tughlak Kings of Delhi, the, 45 
Tulsi Bai, 134 
Tiirkis, the, 32 n. 



UDAIPUR, 30, 31, 61, 180, 181 
Udgir, Battle of, 80 
Ujjain, 29, 182 
Umachand, 106 
Umballa, see Ambalah 
Universities of India, 190 
Urdu Language, the, 187 
Utkala, 186 



YEN 

VAISALT, 186 

Vaisyas, the, 17 

Vallabhi, 30, 186 

Varendra, 186 

Vasco da Gama, 93 

Vazir All, Rebellion of, 125 

Vedas, the, 14 

Vellor, 130, 179 

Viceroy, the First, 160 

Viceroys of India, the, 161 

Vidarbha (Barar), 178, 186 

Vijayaaagar (Bijanagar or Nar- 

singha), 50 
Vikramaditya, 29 
Village Communities, 20 
Virata, 186 
Vriji, 186 



WAINAD, 179 
Wandewash, 179 

Battle of, 101 
Warangal, 44, 183, 186 
Wargam, Convention of, 89 
Wellesley, General, 91 

Lord, 125-129 
Wynaad, see Wainad 



YAKUB KHAN, the Amir, 1 66 
Yenda u, Treaty of, 136 



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